Paperweight

A very interesting utilitarian object and a memento of an unidentified person who was formerly its recipient and also its donor. The paperweight – a desk tool that is a popular office article also today. The paperweight preserved in the Wilanów collection was made by an unrecognised artist in the 19th century. It consists of two parts – a horizontal profiled board and a handle with a rectangular profile divided on edges where it is connected to the board, made of gilded bronze, an alloy covered with black paint, in which two rectangular black marble panes are symmetrically embedded. Properly cut pieces of colour marble were put into such background, forming a composition of two parrots sitting on branches. Both compositions are set in a narrow white frame. This type of decoration based on composing a picture from pieces of stone in different colours is defined as pietra dura (meaning ‘hard stone’ in Italian) or as the Florence mosaic.

Between two images of parrots, there is a bronze-gilt plaque, on which the following inscription is engraved: ‘TO MENTION AN OLD NEIGHBOUR SOMETIMES 1849’. Taking the date into consideration, we can associate the paperweight with the history of the Wilanów Palace and its collection in times when its owners were August Potocki (1806–1867) and his wife Aleksandra née Potocka (1818–1892).

Along with other stationery tools, such as a nib box (Wil.5647), the paperweight is an item of minor significance, but a very interesting material document of former customs. Such items give us at least a slight glimpse into the nearest surroundings of the former inhabitants of Wilanów and the types of items that they used for performing their everyday duties.