Copies of documents for National Museum in Krakow (the Princes Czartoryski Museum)

Production of document reproductions for the Czartoryski Museum as part of the project: ‘Past – Future – Renovation and Fitting-out of the Czartoryski Museum – National Museum in Kraków to Make the Unique Collection Accessible’.

This ambitious programme involves, amongst other things, a new way of presenting the museum’s collections. Artists and craftspeople have been invited to take part in the work. I, a calligrapher and illuminator, am also part of this distinguished group. The museum possesses a unique collection of 44,338 old prints, loose maps, atlases, seal dies and casts, and parchment documents. Among them are true gems of hand-painted book illumination and extremely valuable documents. Several of these have been selected to feature in the new museum space in the form of copies. 

As part of the project, I was asked to produce copies of the documents. The seals for the documents: the Jedleński Privilege and the Prussian Homage were made by Mr Tadeusz Grajpel.

In the first stage, which lasted over six months and ended in December 2018, I produced:

1. A miniature depicting the Enthronement of the King of Poland and a miniature of the King’s Coronation from the Ciołek Pontifical of the early 16th century. The manuscript was produced in Kraków for Erazm Ciołek, Bishop of Płock, secretary to King Alexander Jagiellon, bibliophile and diplomat. The manuscript, comprising 265 parchment leaves, contains descriptions of liturgical rites, including the enthronement and coronation of the king and queen, as well as prayers recited by the bishop.
2. A parchment document of the Prussian Homage bearing four seals, dated 1525. A document of the treaty concluded between Sigismund, King of Poland, and Albert, Margrave of Brandenburg, under which the state of war between the parties was ended, and the secular duchy formed from Prussian lands, as a fief of the King and the Polish Crown, remained Albert’s inheritance. The treaty regulated economic and trade relations between the two countries.
3. A parchment diploma of honorary citizenship of the city of Kraków awarded to Władysław Czartoryski in 1880. The diploma was presented to Prince Władysław on the occasion of his being awarded the title of honorary citizen of Kraków by the City Council in 1880; the diploma was printed but hand-illuminated by Stanisław Eliasz Radzikowski

In the second stage, I created:

1. A parchment document known as “Privilege of Jedlnia of 1430”. This was a document granting the nobility a guarantee of personal inviolability and protection of property, bestowed by Władysław Jagiełło in exchange for a promise that his son, Władysław III Warneńczyk, would ascend the Polish throne and extend the reign of the Jagiellonian dynasty in Poland.  The text of the privilege was drafted in Brześć Kujawski in 1425. The privilege was granted in Jedlnia in 1430, and confirmed in Kraków in 1433.
2. Miniatures from the Treatise on the Forms and Rules of Tournaments, René d’Anjou, TRAITÉ DE LA FORME ET DEVIS D’UN TOURNOIS, no. 3090 IV.  This is a 15th-century manuscript by René d’Anjou, a ruler and patron of chivalric culture. The treatise describes in detail the rules for organising tournaments, their conduct, costumes, armour and ceremonial. The work was instructional in nature – it set out the rules of combat, the conduct of knights and the role of judges and heralds.
3. A miniature from the Little Hours of Agnes de Kiquémberg, no. 2032 II. A beautifully illuminated copy of the Little Hours belonging to Agnes de Kiquémberg dit Loen.
4. Miniature from the Little Hours of the Blessed Virgin Mary with a calendar, by Krzysztof Rylski, no. 3093. The Little Hours of the Blessed Virgin Mary with a calendar listing the feast days of the patron saints of Ghent and Bruges. In the 17th century, the manuscript was owned by Krzysztof Rylski, who signed his name in the margin.

back