[Solid four-sided kontusz belt of 1791]. Manufactory of Paschalis Jakubowicz, Warsaw or Lipkow, before 1791.

Contour belt, solid, four-sided. Manufactory of Paschalis Jakubowicz, Warsaw or Lipków, before 1791. silk yarn, silver and silver gilt thread, 420 x 45 cm.

Signed at the corners of the heads: "Pascha / fox". The signature written with transfer dates from the period of Paschalis' manufactures before his ennoblement, i.e. before 1791. Jakub Paschalis Jakubowicz (d. 1816/7), merchant and entrepreneur of Armenian origin, arrived in Poland in the 1860s. The fashion for wearing kontusz belts, which intensified with the growth of patriotic feelings, and the growing demand for this item of clothing, prompted Jakubowicz to establish a persiarium - in 1788 in Warsaw, and in 1790 moved to Lipkow near Warsaw. The offered belt was made before 1791. - that is, during the time of the Four-Year Sejm. The dominant colors of the center of the belt (white and red) corresponded to the mood of the era - these colors were associated since the 17th century with the colors of the White Eagle (on the red background of the banner), in the 18th century they were increasingly associated with the Republic. During the period of the Great Seym, the measure of patriotism was the wearing of national costume, of which the kontusz belt became an inseparable element. Heads: three motifs of flower bushes. Center: a "carpiole" motif. Edges: floral thread and parrot motif, tassels. Good condition (stains, minor conservation). An exceptionally beautiful piece.

Lit.: J. Chruszczyńska, kontusz belts from Polish manufactures and workshops in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw, catalog of the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw, Warsaw 1995, p. 320 (cf.: belt no. 136, p. 177).