Kontusz belt

Four-sided gilt kontusz belt, multi-colour. The longest part decorating the belt, the so-called wciąż is decorated with transverse stripes of equal length and width known as pólka in two types. On the obverse the left side of the belt is woven with silver thread and the right side with gold thread. They can be seen in the backgrounds of the pólka with thread and flower ornamentation. Heavily stylised borderline made of khorasan of Persian origin. Winding branch and leaves in dark brown, flowers alternating orange and blue. The second type of pólka are smooth stripes in two colours, brown up to the middle of the belt, then orange with a pink shade. Narrow separating stripes woven with metallic and silk brown thread in a fine check. The whole belt is encircled by a strip, a little wider than the pólka, silver on one side and gold on the other, rhythmically covered with an ornament of leafy twigs with flowers combined in pairs and intertwined in the shape of the letter S. Contours in dark brown, leaves in olive yellow, flowers in blue and orange. The pattern is contoured on both sides with a brown stripe in a zigzag line motif woven with metal thread. At the ends of the belt, know as its ‘heads’, there are two identical small blooming flowers growing straight out of the ground. Perfectly symmetrical shrubs with various flowers in orange, blue. Leaves in olive and yellow. On the reverse of the belt there is the so-called ‘contre’ – the parts in the pólka, where there was a silver and gold background, are now in dark brown. The ornament is woven with metal thread. Pólka are clear on the reverse. Shorter sides fitted with long curly gold tassels (completed in modern times), sewn to the belt. Poland, 18th century.