Kontusz sash - Wirtualne Muzea Małopolski

Kontusz sash
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Performed by factory managed by Jan Madżarski Date of production ca. 1780 Place of creation Słuck, Poland Dimensions length: 447 cm, width: 36 cm ID no. MNK­XIX­2289 Museum The National Museum in Kraków Oddział Main Building Gallery Gallery of Decorative Art Subjects clothing Technique brocading Material silk, silver thread Acquired date 1920, donated by Feliks Jasieński Object copyright The National Museum in Kraków Digital images copyright public domain Digitalisation The National Museum in Kraków Tags techniki zdobnicze, orientalizm, strój, strój kontuszowy, tkanina, barok, Ormianie, sarmatyzm, manufaktura, 2D The sashes worn with the kontusz by the nobility of the Republic of Poland are of Eastern origin. In Poland they became popular by the agency of Armenians, who first brought them from Persia and Turkey, and later initiated their production in the workshops set up in Poland. The best­known manufacturing factory was located in Słuck. Other Persian workshops operated in Lipków, Gdańsk, Kraków, Grodno, Kobyłka, Korzec and Nieśwież. In order to meet the huge demand for kontusz sashes in the 2nd half of the 18th century, they were also woven in Lyon, France.
The kontusz sash was composed of a long middle part and a decorative finish known as heads and narrow hems, the so­called bands. The whole middle field was divided into narrow, transverse stripes known as little fields. The heads were most frequently decorated with two motifs of flower twigs. The workshop signatures were often placed in the head corners.
Elaborated by Joanna R. Kowalska (The National Museum in Kraków), © all rights reserved
Kontusz sash and opasek
Kontusz sash was considered to be the most colourful piece of gentry dress. The sash was popular since the mid­16th century, but it gained particular significance in the 18th century (it was also then that the tying of the sash changed in a way to highlight its ends).
Initially, the gentry used imported Persian and Turkish sashes, obviously priced very high (the equivalent of today's PLN 250).
Over time, the sashes came to be produced in Poland, initially with imported looms and materials, the Eastern sashes serving as models. The first workshops were set up in the 1740s in estate manors – in Brody and in Stanisławów, where Armenian weavers were settling in.
The Słuck­based workshop in the Radziwiłłowski estate (managed by Jan Madżarski) quickly became the most famous Polish workshop producing fabrics woven with Persian and Turkish methods. Soon, products from Słuck weavers became so popular that the Słuck sash became a synonym for the Polish sash in general. The brand was well identifiable thanks to its original patterns and compositions (the collection of Małopolska’s Virtual Museums includes a Słuck Kontusz sash from the collection of the National Museum in Kraków).
One sash has two heads.
The ends of the sash shown off were referred to as heads. Thus each sash has two heads…
Sashes were usually 3 metres long, their width reaching 40 cm.
Two ends featured identical embroidery, though with different colouring (just as in the case of the Słuck sash, sash ends were like the negative and the positive).
Additionally, colours applied on one half were used on the other half in an opposite order, which resulted in a four­sided system. Folded lengthwise, the sash turned into four different sashes. Edges of the fabric were adorned with a decorative border, which encircled both the heads and the middle part of the sash.
Where did this sash idea come from?
A sash on a nobleman's żupan played the role of a gem: a special technique was developed to press golden and silver threads to give the gold­laced sash a mirror­like look, such fabrics were most sought­
after.
Although the wide variety of patterns evidenced Persian masters' creativity, sash heads usually only had a karumfil (Turkish: two branched carnations). Interestingly enough, even though the patterns were of Persian­Turkish­Armenian origin, they quickly became regarded as typically Polish, representative of the national style.
As a result, the nobility dress stood out among the European styles of the time. This distinctness was evident during foreign visits: one of such events being recorded in drawings by Stefano Della Bella, who reproduced a trip of Polish MPs in the 17th century with great detail.
The history of fashion follows traces of interpenetrating influences. The kontusz sashes were a typical piece of a nobleman's attire, just as the broad opasek shepherd belts in the peasantry (opaska bacowska).
See the sculpture of a highlander with an opasek
from the collection of Małopolska’s Virtual Museums.
Find out more about the opasek in the Bronowice costume.
Activity:
Name the elements of the Słuck sash by using the words included in the phrase below.
A sash encircled with a decorative board still has two heads.
Elaborated by the editorial team of Małopolska’s Virtual Museums, CC­BY 3.0 PL
Broszowanie
Broszowanie (franc. brocher) to technika polegająca na wprowadzeniu do tkaniny dodatkowego wątku metalowego (złotego lub srebrnego) lub jedwabnego, tzw. broszującego. Wątek ten przechodził przez szerokość tkaniny wyłącznie w miejscu występowania ornamentu, dzięki czemu powstawał na niej wzór.
Rezultaty takiej misternej pracy można zobaczyć w zbiorach Wirtualnych Muzeów Małopolski: spódnica taftowa podhalańska, pas kontuszowy oraz Komplet późnorenesansowych szat liturgicznych (ornat, kapa, dalmatyka, stuła).
Opracowanie: Redakcja WMM, CC­BY 3.0 PL
Tags: The Dr. Tytus Chałubiński Tatra Museum in Zakopane, The National Museum in Kraków, clothing, folk art, fabric, sarmatism, kontusz outfit, finery