Platter with a bust of Sigismund I the Old

During the reign of Sigismund I the Old, the first royal medals appeared in Poland. Hans Schwarz, a well-known portraitist in the 16th century, was invited to the royal court in 1526. In accordance with the Renaissance fashion, referring to ancient art, he made preliminary sketches of the king's portrait, paying attention to individual features. He used the resulting authentic image in profile when creating a medal for the ruler. This type of realistic representation was quite different from older ones, which schematically presented the idea of the monarch's power and majesty. In the following year the artist left Poland, but the custom of commemorating the king and his family in profile in a medal, which dates back to antiquity, became established.

Among the medallists working in Poland in the first half of the 16th century, Maciej Schilling, the manager of the mint in Toruń, a native of Krakow, stood out. The quality of his work was on par with foreign artists. In 1533 he made a small-sized medal depicting the bust of Sigismund I the Old on the obverse and the bust of his son Sigismund II August on the reverse.

Such relics of the past were an inspiration for 19th-century artists of historical representations. The authentic image of Sigismund the Old on a small medal became an inspiration for a designer working at the Nieborów majolica factory at the end of the 19th century. It is an example of the changes which occurred in the production of the factory in Nieborów during the several years of its operation. At the beginning the factory was dominated by forms and decorations referring to the Western European style. Under the influence of criticism published in the press of the time, decorative and utilitarian objects began to be designed with native features and the paintings on their surface often referred to Poland's past.

The portrait of the ruler, painted on a colourful plate of impressive size, is part of this trend of depictions on ceramics from Nieborów. The monarchs were to remind us of the splendour and power of the former Commonwealth, and to inspire hope for a better future for a nation deprived of its own statehood at that time.

Magdalena Norkowska