Stanisław August Poniatowski - offering jewels

The medal commemorates the donation of valuables by Stanisław August Poniatowski (1764-1795) to the treasury of the Republic of Poland for the needs of the army. The king placed it in the hands of the Speaker of the Sejm, Stanisław Małachowski, after saying at a session of the Sejm on 26 February 1790: "[...] no one advises better than by setting an example myself; I do not want to be far from it, but God sees how sorry I am that I have no cash, because the privation of the treasury also affects me, when what should come from it does not reach me; but these which I have, the remaining vanity ornaments, up to half a million jewels, I will place today in the hands of the Speaker of the Sejm". The King's generosity was related to the reform of the Commonwealth's army undertaken at the time of the Four-Year Sejm (1788-1792), and the assumed increase in its numbers from 18 to 100 thousand soldiers. Difficulties in implementing the ambitious plans forced the Sejm in 1790 to temporarily reduce the number of posts in the army to 65,000. Even this plan was not realised and at the outbreak of the war with Russia in 1792 the Republic had at its disposal an army of 57,000 men.

The obverse of the medal depicts the head of Stanisław August Poniatowski with a headband, surrounded by the Latin inscription "STANISLAUS AUGUSTUS D[ei] G[ratia] REX POLONIAE M[agnus] D[ux] LITUA[niae]", translated: "Stanislaw August by God's grace King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania". The signature under the monarch's neck - I. P H. - informs that the author of the work was the royal court medallist Jan Filip Holzhaeusser (1741-1792). The depiction of the monarch on the medal was designed by the artist for the first time on a royal coronation medal in 1766. The portrait of the monarch, which was held in high esteem, was most often referred to in the later works of Johann Philipp Holzhaeusser. The circumstances of the work's creation are explained by the nine-line Latin inscription on the obverse: "DEFICIENTI AD IMPENAS EXERCITUS AERARIO PUBLICO GEMMAS PROPRII GAZOPHILACII INTULIT ET DONAVIT. S.A.R. A. MDCCXC.", translated: "In the scarcity for military expenses his own jewels to the public treasury were provided and donated by King Stanislaus Augustus in the year 1790".

The medal was struck in silver and bronze. Our bronze copy was struck with a damaged reverse stamp, which is visible near the rim. A slight crack of the die is also visible next to the royal name inscription on the obverse.

Tomasz Markiewicz