Seal matrix of the Wilanów Library

In the collection of the Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów, almost forty sphragistics pieces – seals or seal matrixes – have survived. The term ‘sphragistics’ is derived from the Greek word ‘sphragis’ standing for a seal (alternatively called sigillography after the Latin word ‘sigillum’) and defines the branch of auxiliary historical sciences where research focuses on interpreting the meaning of seals and determining the circumstances of their creation. The history of sphragistics dates back to the 19th century; at that time, it was noticed that seals could serve as a valuable source material contributing knowledge on political, heraldic and diplomacy arrangements as well as other motifs concerning the past.

The set of seals and seal matrixes preserved in the collection of the Museum dates back to the 18th century. Seals and matrixes are connected not only with the Wilanów estate. The set contains objects that can be associated with specific persons – the owners of Wilanów in the context of posts held by them, but also objects that document the system of administering estates and their functioning, not only the Wilanów estate.

The example shown here is an ink impression seal. The matrix has an irregular shape and is convexly engraves (which means that the shape to be impressed with the flat seal is cut in steel, as in the case of relief printing techniques, such as woodcuts). The seal has a long smooth wooden handle. The impressed composition is similar to an oval. In the seal field, the shape of a Spanish escutcheon (oval at the bottom, closed on both sides at an angle of 90º) is cut, on which an escutcheon with the Pilawa (two and a half of a cross) coat of arms of the Potocki family is placed in the blue field. Over the escutcheon, we can see a nine-stick count’s crown with a bunch of five ostrich feathers, and on both sides and at the bottom of the escutcheon there are two branches: an oak branch and a laurel branch bound with a ring at the bottom. The escutcheon is surrounded with a circumscription written in majuscule in Latin: EX BIBL: VILLANOV: CTIS AUGUSTI POTOCKI, which is presumably an abbreviation for a description indicating that the library piece bearing this mark belonged to the collection of the Wilanów Library in times when the owner of the estate was August Potocki (1840–1867).