Remains of eighteenth-century service sets from Warsaw royal courts

Abstract

Archaeological excavations conducted in the Saski Palace (2006–2008) and the Royal Castle (1972–1984) in Warsaw revealed fragments of china tableware used at the courts of the kings from the Saxon dynasty and Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski. The article analyses such items, both excavated and preserved in museums and private collections. The excavated fragments were usually pieces of tea- and coffee-sets (saucers, cups and dessert-cups) and dinner services (plates, bowls and other dishes). Museum collections also have some figurines used as table decorations. Notably, collectors’ items bear signatures indicating that they were used by the king and his court. An analysis of the porcelain used at the courts of Augustus II of Saxony (1697–1733) and Augustus III of Saxony (1733–1763) indicates that the two kings, who resided in the Saski Palace, valued simplicity, which often surfaced in monochromatic blues. Most frequently the dishes were decorated with floral motifs borrowed from Chinese and Japanese porcelain, and with European flowers painted underglaze with cobalt. When the court moved to the Warsaw Royal Castle, Augustus III’s taste for cobalt-decorated china did not change, as is proved by the first service ordered for the Royal Castle, decorated with floral and insect motifs. Most of the finds from the Royal Castle are pieces of overglaze-decorated china manufactured in the years 1775–1790 for Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski’s court. The king ordered several services for the court. The modest floral decoration of plates and cups does not stand out from the output of the Meissen manufactory, which had become mass-scale by then. Archaeological finds, in combination with pieces surviving in museums and private collections, prove that in the Royal Castle during Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski’s rein at least three dinner services and two breakfast services were used, all of them made in Meissen to the King’s special order.