A nineteenth-century glyptic collection in the National Museum in Krakow. The cabinet of Constantine...

Journal of the History of Collections vol. 28 no. 1 (2016) pp. 85–96

doi:10.1093/jhc/fhu056 Advance Access publication 7 November 2014© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

A nineteenth-century glyptic collection in the National Museum in KrakowThe cabinet of Constantine Schmidt-Ciążyński

Paweł Gołyźniak, Lucyna Natkaniec-Nowak and Magdalena Dumańska-Słowik

Recent research has brought back to prominence a remarkable collection of glyptic objects housed in the National Museum in Krakow. It was assembled by Constantine Schmidt-Ciążyński (1818–1889) in the second half of the nineteenth century, but has been little known since that time and remains largely unpublished. This extensive collection (over 2,500 pieces) sheds light in a unique manner on the European gem trade and on gem collecting in the mid-to late-1800s. The gems were engraved in a variety of minerals; only one object is made from an artificial material, namely glass paste. The collection offers an opportunity to investigate the collector’s aims for his collection and the circumstances that shaped its special character. It seems very likely that the entire set was designed to have particular socio-cultural and educational functions.

Since 1886 the National Museum in Krakow has preserved part of a huge collection of engraved gems and other glyptic objects formerly belonging to Constantine Schmidt-Ciążyński (1818–1889), a suc-cessful antiquary and one of the greatest collectors of his time. Born in Warsaw, he spent much of his child-hood there but also travelled with his father, Louis Schmidt, a physician in the service of the Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais (1763–1814), first wife of emperor Napoleon I.1 Constantine studied in Dorpat (present-day Tartu), probably from 1835 to 1839, fol-lowing which he worked for twelve years in the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg as an ancillary employee involved in (amongst other things) the con-servation of Italian Old Master paintings.2 His activi-ties as a collector were also impressive for, since his early youth, Schmidt-Ciążyński engaged in collecting paintings, drawings and engraved gems.

A serious illness brought about the need for a change of residence, and in 1851 he set out on a journey that would take him across Europe, through England and France, to Italy. It was in Paris, however, that he founded an antique shop in 1853, quickly becoming one of the most prominent figures in the city’s art market; in 1863 he was nominated as the principal supplier of works of art to the Emperor Napoleon III (1808–1873).3 He also dealt with some of the major museums of the day, including the State

Hermitage Museum, the British Museum and the South Kensington Museum.4 After the death of his only son (also an artist and collector) in 1869, Schmidt-Ciążyński moved to London, where he continued his activities as a collector and dealer in antiquities.

Reaching old age and worrying about the future of his various collections, Schmidt-Ciążyński sought a safe place to deposit them in his homeland. Eventually, in 1886 he sold his collection of glyptic objects to the National Museum in Krakow.5 The final years of his life were spent in north-eastern Italy at Gorizia (Friuli Venezia Giulia), where he died in 1889.

The collection sold by Schmidt-Ciążyński to the Polish National Museum was exhibited first on the occasion of its arrival in the city in 1883.6 It was shown again in Langierówka (part of the Cloth Hall at Krakow’s main square) in the winter of 1901−2 and again in the Numismatic Cabinet of the Emeryk Hutten-Czapski Museum until 1910.7 The period between the First and the Second World Wars proved particularly unfortunate for the collection: it lost its former organizing structure, the inventory numbers were removed and the objects mixed with specimens from other, less significant collections of gems. After the Second World War it was transferred in the 1950s to Department iv of the National Museum in Krakow (Decorative Art and Material Culture), where it remains today.8

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Since 1910 the collection as a whole has never been exhibited, although single specimens were displayed for a time in 1967.9 The whole collection consisted of 2,517 objects, originally including 301 finger-rings, but their number was reduced considerably due to theft and damage during two World Wars.10 Only a small part of the collection has been researched and published: intaglios and cameos with signatures of post-classical engravers were described by M. Fredro-Boniecka;11 a group of Egyptian scarabs, scaraboids and magical gems was published by J. Śliwa,12 who is also the author of several articles devoted to small groups of specimens from this collection, as well as a biography of the collector.13 A group of Mesopotamian and Iranian cylinder-seals, as as well as Sassanian seals, was published by B. Kaim-Małecka,14 and Byzantine objects were published by M. Myśliński.15 Up to the present, the collection as a whole has never been the subject of an extensive study, although it was briefly described in some short reports and articles in the nineteenth century.16 It was also recognized that the collection was of exceptional interest: one of the best connoisseurs of glyptic art of those days − Frederic von Kenner, a curator of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna − declared that the Schmidt-Ciążyński collec-tion might be compared with the best-known and most extensive gem cabinets in Europe, including those in Vienna and St Petersburg.17

Schmidt-Ciążyński assembled specimens of all kinds, so one may suppose that he harboured ambi-tions to create a collection representative of all periods in the development of glyptic art. Since 2012 the pre-sent authors have investigated Hellenistic, Italic and Roman engraved gems from this unusual assembly, a project that has provided an opportunity not only to analyse and describe a large part of the set (c. 800 specimens) but also to investigate the collection as a whole. In order to draw authoritative conclusions, mineralogical analyses were conducted alongside the archaeological studies, an interdisciplinary exercise that bore new fruit.

The present paper aims to provide an analysis of the related documents that survive and also the structure of the whole collection, in order to establish both the character of the assemblage and the ambitions of its creator. Moreover, the character of the cabinet forms the basis for an examination of the contemporary gem trade and of the art market in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Gems represented in Schmidt-Ciążyński collection

Since its decimation during the First and Second World Wars, the surviving material in the Schmidt-Ciążyński collection has been gradually restored to its original form of 1886, so that now almost all of the items still at hand have been reunited. Former descriptions of materials, dimensions and icono-graphic interpretations have been compared with the results of current analysis. Although the original descriptions were very brief – at times consisting of only two or three words – none the less, the major-ity of gems have been successfully reconciled with the records of the 1886, so that it is now possible to recon-struct the arrangement of the set.

Surprisingly, the objects were arranged firstly according to subject and only later with regard to chronology. There were, for instance, two groups of masks: the first included Greek and Roman gems and the second group comprised post-classical specimens. Schmidt-Ciążyński distinguished sev-eral groups of objects, dividing the collection (it would seem), into ancient and post-classical mate-rial. Several sub-groups were also distinguished: within the ancient part of his collection, there were Egyptian, Phoenician and Etruscan scarabs, Greek and Roman intaglios and cameos, gems with ancient inscriptions etc.; amongst the post-classical material he distinguished medieval, Renaissance and neo-clas-sical groups, with special regard to the gems signed by modern artists. The objects were distributed in twenty-four box-like drawers, each containing sev-eral panels into which the gems were inserted, all housed in a cabinet specially designed by Sławomir Odrzywolski.18 An analysis of their arrangement reveals that a highly original method of presentation was evolved by the collector.

The collection consists almost entirely of gem-stones, with only one Roman ring set with an intag-lio of glass paste, dated to the second century ad and depicting Bonus Eventus. Moreover, a large propor-tion of gems from the Schmidt-Ciążyński collection are ancient. A total of 2,329 objects are engraved gems (the remainder comprising various glyptic objects such as Egyptian glazed terracotta, Egyptian small figures, ancient jewellery, etc.), some 1,500 of which were believed to be ancient. Although our studies confirmed only c.1,050 objects to be ancient, this is



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still a remarkable score, providing positive evidence of the collector’s considerable knowledge in this field.

Following Schmidt-Ciążyński, our more extensive examination of the collection divided the gems into two groups − ancient and post-classical. The first consists of ancient objects which can be sub-divided according to cultural as well as chronological factors. There is an interesting group of Mesopotamian, Iranian and Babylonian cylinder-seals as well as Sassanian seals (more than 100 objects), already pub-lished by Kaim-Małecka.19 This group, representing

ancient Near Eastern glyptics dating from the third millennium bc, forms the oldest element of glyp-tic art in the set (Figs 1–3). They are engraved in a variety of hardstones, including lapis lazuli, smoky quartz and chalcedony (agate). A further division consists of Egyptian scarabs, numbering no more than fifty specimens, as published by Śliwa.20 A small group of Etruscan and Phoenician scarabs may also be noticed: these are not particularly numerous and many of them have been re-worked (parts of several beetles having been cut off), but they demonstrate

Fig. 1. Mesopotamian cylinder seal, c. 2500-2400 bc (Early Dynastic period), lapis-lazuli, with impression; 25 x 15mm. The object depicts a scene of fighting with animals; in the centre a hero fights with two bucks and a lion attacking him; on the left is a lion attacking a creature (half man, half bull) holding weapon in its hands. National Museum, Krakow, inv. no. mnk-iv-g-1 (formerly no. 3605). Photograph: Photographic Studio of the National Museum, Krakow.

Fig. 2. Assyrian cylinder seal, c. 730-600 bc (New Assyrian period), smoky quartz; 25 x 13mm, with impression. A fight between two mythical creatures and a hero: the first creature has a human head and body of scorpion, the latter is a giant lion; the hero is between them holding a dagger in one hand and pushing the lion with the other. National Museum, Krakow, inv. no. mnk-iv-g-18 (formerly no. 3606). Photograph: Photographic Studio of the National Museum, Krakow.



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a fine selection of material (cornelian) and include some specimens engraved in so-called a globolo technique (Fig. 4). There are very few Greek gems dating to the Classical period: one is an intaglio of banded agate depicting a lion attacking a stag (Fig. 5) and there are also three particularly interesting and valuable engraved finger-rings dating variously from the second quarter of the fifth century bc to the first half of the second century, as recently pub-lished by Gołyźniak.21 Far more representative is a

group of Hellenistic gems numbering some ninety objects. Amongst these there are important portraits of Hellenistic rulers as well as ordinary specimens bearing figures of gods and goddesses, mythologi-cal scenes, masks, animals, objects, symbols, attrib-utes, etc. Some are mounted in original gold rings like (Fig. 6) − an intaglio of garnet (almandine) depicting a woman (Athena?) holding a spear in her right hand and a phiale in the left. Another group consists of Italic and Roman republican gems (c.140 objects). The repertoire of subjects is quite wide, including portraits of humans, gods and goddesses, mythological scenes, warriors and gladiators, masks, mask-combinations, objects, symbols and attributes as well as animals and fantastic creatures (Fig. 7–8) − most often in banded agate. The most numerous

Fig. 3. Sassanian seal, third or fourth century ad, chalcedony – agate, 18 x 9 x 10mm. Bust of a bearded prince wearing a diadem; inscription in the pehleri language and floral decoration surround it. National Museum, Krakow, inv. no. mnk-ew-iv- zł-3181 (former number unknown). Photograph: Photographic Studio of the National Museum, Krakow.

Fig. 4. Etruscan scarab mounted in a modern ring, beginning of the fourth century bc, cornelian; gem 12 x 9 x 6 mm; ring: bezel 19 x 14 mm, hoop 21 x 22 mm. A man’s foot, a globolo style. National Museum, Krakow, inv. no. mnk-ew-iv-zł-2188 (formerly no. 4588). Photograph: Photographic Studio of the National Museum, Krakow.

Fig. 5. Greek ring-stone, fourth century bc (late Classical period), banded agate, probably burnt as indicated by discoloration on the surface; 13 x 8 x 4mm. A lion attacks a stag. National Museum, Krakow, inv. no. mnk-ew-iv-zł-1857 (formerly no. 3957). Photograph: Photographic Studio of the National Museum, Krakow.



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group are intaglios and cameos dated to the Roman period (over 600 specimens), including examples of every single iconographical category; particularly noteworthy is a marvellous cameo bearing a por-trait of Gaius or Lucius Caesar (Fig. 9), engraved in chalcedony (onyx). A group of almost 100 magi-cal gems was published by Śliwa,22 in which category are a number of objects of exceptional interest. And finally, there are two small groups of gems depicting early Christian and Byzantine subjects (Figs 10–11).

The second major group, consisting of post-clas-sical gems, includes a very few objects executed of medieval date. One of these is a cameo depicting an eagle, probably engraved at the court of the Emperor Frederic II (1194–1250) of the House of Hohenstaufen (Fig. 12); it takes the form of a doublet of cornelian and sardonyx. Much more representative are intaglios and cameos of the Renaissance period. Portraits of his-torical figures and cameos bearing motifs modelled on the ancient iconography belong to this group. Biblical themes are also widely represented (Fig. 13), includ-ing pieces by the greatest engravers of the day: these

include a chalcedony (agate) cameo depicting Jesus Christ praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, set in a partially gilt silver mount, attributed to Alessandro Masnago (1560–1620) (Fig. 14). There are also works of the Baroque epoch (Fig. 15), again in agate. Finally, one of the most numerous groups of the set comprises gems made in the neo-Classical style of the eight-eenth and nineteenth centuries. Among these there are more than eighty intaglios and cameos signed by the most prominent modern gem-engravers, includ-ing Antonio Angelo Amastini (1754–1816), Antonio Berini (1770–1861), William Brown (1777–1857), Giovanni Calandrelli (1784–1852), Nicolò Cerbara (1793–1869), Giuseppe Girometti (1780–1851), Romain Vincent Jeuffroy (1749–1826), Nathaniel Marchant (1739–1816), Antonio (1697–1779) Luigi (1773–1854) and Giovanni Pichler (1734–1791), and many others (Fig. 16–19).23

In the course of the recent research programme, two dactyliothecae containing reproductions of items from the set were identified. They were rec-ognized in the first instance in 1974 by Stanisława

Fig. 6. Hellenistic golden ring with an intaglio, first half of the second century bc (Hellenistic period), garnet (almandine); gem 14 x 11mm; ring: bezel 16 x 12mm, hoop 23 x 23mm, weight: 7.43g. A woman (Athena?) standing in to the front with head in profile; in her right hand she holds a spear and in the left a phiale – a vessel for making libation. National Museum, Krakow, inv. no. mnk-ew-iv-z-45/2312 (formerly no. 4582). Photograph: Photographic Studio of the National Museum, Krakow.



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Odrzywolska (formerly curator of the Department of Decorative Art and Material Culture) under the inventory numbers mnk-iv-pn-875/1–437 and mnk-iv-pn-876/1–417.24 The first contains plaster casts of 417 specimens, the second electrotypes of 437 objects. It may be noted that the latter method of reproduc-ing of gems in metal was not widely used at this time.25 Most recently, among the glyptic collections preserved in the National Museum in Krakow, some further gems have been identified as belonging to the Schmidt-Ciążyński collection.26 Originally, these had been presented by the collector to the Technical-Industrial Museum in Krakow, whose founder and first director, Adrian Baraniecki, had enjoyed a friendly relationship with Schmidt-Ciążyński;27 when the Technical-Industrial Museum was closed in 1950, the National Museum took over its collections. These circumstances may point the way to further avenues of research into the Schmidt-Ciążyński collection.

Discussion and concluding remarks

Preliminary data from new studies on the Schmidt-Ciążyński collection have resulted in discoveries which allow us to draw some conclu-sions. Firstly, it is worth highlighting the extraor-dinary character of the set. Assembling more than 2,500 objects in the second half of the nineteenth century was a very considerable achievement. While most of the gem collections preserved in the principal European museums were gathered throughout the centuries by royal families or public institutions, Schmidt-Ciążyński’s collec-tion was created by one man over a period of no more than fifty years. In the light of new discover-ies, the collection of glyptic objects assembled by Schmidt-Ciążyński can be seen to have been more extensive than it has previously been supposed. Due to his wide network of contacts − which included dealers and collectors as well as museum curators − he was able to operate throughout the whole of Europe.28 The discovery that some gems that once belonged to the collector were donated to the Technical-Industrial Museum in Krakow confirms that those sold to the National Museum were selected in a very particular way. Moreover, it is thought that originally Schmidt-Ciążyński’s collection was perhaps twice as big as the 2,517 glyptic objects now preserved in the National Museum,29 although this issue remains to be more deeply investigated in future.

New studies on the Schmidt-Ciążyński collec-tion called for verification of the materials used. The minerals are represented mostly by the silica group (quartz – rock crystal and amethyst, chal-cedony with its gemmological colour types e.g. cor-nelian, chromium-bearing chalcedony, sard, agate, nicolo, onyx, sardonyx, opal, moganite), but also by garnets and other rare stones such as diamonds, rubies, emeralds and amazonian stone. Among the rocks, jasper seems to be most frequently used, while lapis lazuli appears as a rarity. It is noteworthy that Schmidt-Ciążyński only rarely made mistakes in ascertaining the stone types in his list from 1886. Obviously he was unable to be totally accurate all the time, given the state of knowledge about glyptics in his day. Nevertheless, his familiarity with mineral-ogy informed his success as a collector: it may be said, indeed, that he was not merely a collector of

Fig. 7. Italic ringstone mounted in a modern golden ring, second century bc (Roman Republican period), banded agate; gem 16 x 10 x 2mm; ring: bezel: 19 x 12mm, hoop: 23 x 21mm, weight: 5.91g. National Museum, Krakow, inv. no. mnk-ew-iv-z-19/2158 (formerly no. 4673). Photograph: Photographic Studio of the National Museum, Krakow.



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gems but rather an early researcher in the subject, deeply devoted to his field of study.

In this situation it is worth considering how it was that the collector chose the particular objects to sell to the

Fig. 8. Italic ring-stone, second or early first century bc, banded agate, 16 x 12 x 3mm. Double-sided, side A: Thetis encouraging Hephaestus to make a shield for Achilles; Side B: Heracles leaning on a club with a lion’s skin. National Museum, Krakow, inv. no. mnk-ew-iv-zł-214 (formerly no. 4750). Photograph: Photographic Studio of the National Museum, Krakow.

Fig. 9. Roman cameo, 5 bc - ad 4, chalcedony – onyx, set in a mount of c. 1840–1850; 56 x 46 x 9mm (with mount). Portrait of a Julio-Claudian prince, Gaius or Lucius Caesar? National Museum, Krakow, inv. no. mnk-ew-iv-zł-1159 (formerly no. 2618). Photograph: Photographic Studio of the National Museum, Krakow.

Fig. 10. Early Christian intaglio, end of the fourth/beginning of the fifth century ad, red jasper, 18 x 14 x 2mm. Christ entering Jerusalem. National Museum, Krakow, inv. no. mnk-ew-iv-zł-137 (formerly no. 4483). Photograph: Photographic Studio of the National Museum, Krakow.



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National Museum. As shown in the brief description of the set above, a special arrangement of the objects existed by which they were divided both according to chronol-ogy and subject-matter. It seems likely that Schmidt-Ciążyński’s intention was to sell to the Museum the most representative part of his collection, whose composition was designed to present the development of glyptic art throughout all periods up to the contemporary times. It is known that the collector was a staunch patriot and thus, at the end of his life, he decided to do something particu-lar for his homeland. It was conceived that the collection could function as an educational tool for use by Krakow’s emerging circles of archaeologists and art historians, and to this end a ‘promotional action’ was organized by K. Estreicher, J. Grzegorzewski and M. Sokołowski in order to convince city councillors and the director of the National Museum in Krakow, W. Łuszczkiewicz, to pur-chase the set.30

Schmidt-Ciążyński’s activity in the field of collect-ing works of art, with particular emphasis on the glyp-tic objects, deserves more attention. Among Polish collectors of antiquities and works of art there were only a few people who assembled objects in a rational

Fig. 11. Byzantine cameo, sixth or seventh century ad, zircon (hyacinth), 27 x 21 x 7mm. Portrait en face of a Byzantine high-ranking cleric; inscription: mωnoene aeykoσtom. National Museum, Krakow, inv. no. mnk-ew-iv-zł-1220 (formerly no. 2843). Photograph: Photographic Studio of the National Museum, Krakow.

Fig. 12. Medieval cameo, first half of the thirteenth century, doublet: cornelian – sardonyx, 21 x 16 x 4mm. A cameo bearing a standing eagle with outspread wings and head to right. Possibly Frederican workshop, south Italy. National Museum, Krakow, inv. no. mnk-ew-iv-zł-1280 (formerly no. 3517). Photograph: Photographic Studio of the National Museum, Krakow.

Fig. 13. Renaissance cameo set in a modern gold-plated mount, last quarter of the sixteenth century, chalcedony – agate, 41 x 32 x 8mm (with mount). The Magi bowing down before the Christ Child. Workshop of Alessandro Masnago? Italy. National Museum, Krakow, inv. no. mnk-ew-iv-zł-1598 (formerly no. 3572). Photograph: Photographic Studio of the National Museum, Krakow.



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Fig. 14. Renaissance cameo set in a silver, partially gold-plated mount, c. 1600, chalcedony – agate, 57 x 48 x 12mm (with mount). Christ praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Attributed to Alessandro Masnago (1560–1620). National Museum, Krakow, inv. no. mnk-ew-iv-zł-1692 (formerly no. 2616). Photograph: Photographic Studio of the National Museum, Krakow.

Fig. 15. Baroque cameo set in a gold-plated mount, first half of the seventeenth century, chalcedony – agate, 21 x 17 x 3mm (with mount). Head of Emperor Trajan to right, crowned with a laurel wreath. French or Italian workshop. National Museum, Krakow, inv. no. mnk-ew-iv-zł-1095 (formerly no. 2836). Photograph: Photographic Studio of the National Museum, Krakow.

Fig. 16. A classicizing intaglio, second half of the eighteenth century, chalcedony – chrysoprase, 20 x 17 x 4mm. Cupid as a slave chained and sleeping on a pickaxe. Giovanni Pichler (1743–1791), signature in Greek: πixλep, Rome. National Museum, Krakow, inv. no. mnk-ew-iv-zł-2013 (formerly no. 3285). Photograph: Photographic Studio of the National Museum, Krakow.

Fig. 17. A classicizing intaglio, c. 1740–50, chalcedony – sard, 20 x 15 x 3mm. Portrait of the King of France Louis XV (1710–1774) to left. Engraved by Jacques Guay (1711–93), signature in Latin: i. gvay.f, Paris. National Museum, Krakow, inv. no. mnk-ew-iv-zł-2008 (formerly no. 3267). Photograph: Photographic Studio of the National Museum, Krakow.



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manner, most of them being content to gather what-ever came to hand during travels to Italy and other countries of western and southern Europe. In addi-tion, only a tiny group of Polish collectors created any sort of documentation for their objects.31 Although in the case of Schmidt-Ciążyński’s collection, an official catalogue of his collection has never been produced, a list of objects with very brief descriptions was cre-ated in 1886 while the collector was visiting Krakow. Moreover, the recently discovered dactyliothecae indicate that Schmidt-Ciążyński not only described his collection but also reproduced it in part, an initia-tive that places him in a very positive light amongst the Polish − and perhaps even European − collectors of antiquities and works of art.

Finally, in analysing the structure of the collec-tion as well as single objects, it can be ascertained that Schmidt-Ciążyński’s collection reflects the current situation in the art market for gems in the second half of the nineteenth century. Around the middle of that century glyptic art went through a serious crisis and gems were circulated on a very reduced scale after the scandal of the Poniatowski collection in 1839.32

However, Schmidt-Ciążyński clearly found it possible to assemble an extensive cabinet, though so much of the material was already deployed amongst museums and private collections. Many interesting and rare objects could still be acquired, so despite the troubles of the gem-engravers the art market was still well sup-plied with significant works of art and gem-trading managed to avoid the worst effects of the crisis of con-fidence that engulfed this art form.

Addresses for correspondencePaweł Gołyźniak, Institute of Archaeology, Faculty of History, Jagiellonian University, 11 Gołębia str., 31-007 Krakow, [email protected]

Lucyna Natkaniec-Nowak and Magdalena Dumańska-Słowik, Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection, Department of Mineralogy, Petrography and Geochemistry, agh University of Science and Technology, 30 Mickiewicza av., 30–059 Krakow, [email protected]@uci.agh.edu.pl

AcknowledgementsZofia Gołubiew, a director of the National Museum in Krakow, is acknowledged for kindly granting permission to conduct research

Fig. 18. A classicizing intaglio, probably 1773–89, chalcedony - sard, 22 x 16 x 4mm. Portrait of Andriej Nemo, engraved by Nathaniel Marchant (1739–1816), inscription: marchant. t., Rome? National Museum, Krakow, inv. no. mnk-ew-iv-zł-574 (formerly no. 3275). Photograph: Photographic Studio of the National Museum, Krakow.

Fig. 19. A Neo-classical intaglio, 1818–50, amethyst, 14 x 13 x 4mm. Venus bathing. Engraved by Luigi Pichler (1773–1854), inscription: λ.π, Vienna. National Museum, Krakow, inv. no. mnk-ew-iv-zł-1921 (formerly no. 3301). Photograph: Photographic Studio of the National Museum, Krakow.



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and publish objects from the Museum’s collection. The authors are also grateful to Alicja Kiljańska and Maria Wałach for their gener-ous assistance and for their comments during research on the col-lection. The work was financially supported by the agh University of Science and Technology (Krakow, Poland) statutory research project no 11.11.140.319 and by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education from the funds for the studies in the years 2012–2016 as a part of the ‘Diamond Grant’ programme, statutory research project no. di2011 005641.

Notes and references 1 J. Grzegorzewski, ‘Rzeźba w klejnotach i Konstanty Szmidt

(Ciążyński), założyciel pierwszej publicznej daktylioteki w Polsce’, Ateneum ii (general ser. xxxiv) no. 5 (1884), pp. 339–58.

2 J. Śliwa, Egyptian Scarabs and Magical Gems from the Collection of Constantine Schmidt-Ciążyński, (Warsaw and Krakow, 1989), p. 16; idem, ‘Zur Geschichte der Gemmensamlungen im 19Jh. Die Sammlung von Konstantin Schmidt-Ciążyński (1817–1889)’, in Akten des xiii. Internationalen Kongresses für Klassische Archäologie. Berlin 1988 (Mainz, 1990), pp. 402–3, pl. 61: 3, 4; J. Śliwa, Badacze – kolekcjonerzy - podróżnicy. Studia z dziejów zainteresowań starożytniczych, Regiony, Historia, Kultura vol. 7 (Krakow, 2012), pp. 303–4.

3 See Śliwa, op. cit. [2012] (note 2), p. 305; This fact is con-firmed by a document preserved in the Archive of the National Museum in Krakow, dated ‘Vichy, le 4 août 1863’, addressed to ‘Monsieur Schmidt antiquaire’. The document was sealed at a later date by Schmidt-Ciążyński; it bears an impression of his signet, with the initials ‘cS’. An envelope, in which the docu-ment was sent to the collector, is also preserved. It is addressed to: ‘Monsieur Schmidt, Antiquare, Vichy’. According to the text of the document, Schmidt-Ciążyński had his main antique shop in Paris, but also owned branches in Vichy and Nice.

4 See Śliwa, op. cit. [2012] (note 2), pp. 318–19. At the Archive of the National Museum in Krakow is preserved a docu-ment from 6 August 1872 in which the director of the South Kensington Museum, Henry Cole, and the curator of the col-lections of art, George Wallis, thank Schmidt-Ciążyński for his donation of ‘a stone with a Persian inscription’. According to Grzegorzewski, op. cit. (note 1), p. 343, Schmidt-Ciążyński frequently donated or sold interesting objects to European museums, including the Musée de Cluny and the British Museum. On his contacts with the British Museum see M. L. Bierbier, ‘The Schmidt collection in the British Museum’, in K. M. Ciałowicz and J. A. Ostrowski (eds.), Les Civilisations du Bassin Méditerranéen. Hommages à Joachim Śliwa (Krakow, 2000), pp. 49–52; S. Michel, Die magischen Gemmen im Britischen Museum, vols i-ii (London, 2001), nos 8, 75, 113, 248, 300 and 643. Even though the collector left St Petersburg in 1851, he kept in touch with the Hermitage Museum. After several years of searching he found and sold to the Hermitage one of the great works of Dobrochotov, bearing Paris and Mercury, as ‘a special gift, in memory of [his] long-term relationship with the Hermitage where he took his first steps in collecting and restoring works of art’. See also J. Kagan, ‘Matepиальi к истории рyccкой глиптики: Aлексей Eсаков и Петр Доьроxoтов’ in Essays on the World History of Art and Culture. Collected papers to the 75th anniversary of Yuri Rusakov (1926–1995) (St Petersburg, 2003), pp. 331–73.

5 See, Grzegorzewski, op. cit. (note 1), pp. 356–8; M. Sokołowski, Zbiór gemmo-gliptyczny pana Szmidta-Ciążyńskiego (Krakow,

1883a), p. 12; M. Sokołowski, Pan Konstanty Schmidt (Ciążyński) i jego zbiory (Krakow, 1883b); M. Sokołowski, ‘Zbiór gemmo-gliptyczny Muzeum Narodowego w Krakowie’, in Studya i szkice z dziejów sztuki i cywilizacji, vol. i: Starożytność i wieki średnie (Krakow, 1889), pp. 179–201; Śliwa, op. cit. [1989] (note 2), p. 24; Śliwa, op. cit. [2012] (note 2), p. 312. See also a notarial deed from 31 December 1886 conferring legality on the donation agreement from 19 June 1886 between Schmidt-Ciążyński and the commune of the city of Krakow: National Archive, Krakow, 882/0, ‘Acts of notary Stefan Muczkowski in Krakow’, signature: 29/882/26, doc. no. 24419.

6 Grzegorzewski, op. cit. (note 1), p. 357–8; Sokołowski, op. cit. [1883a] (note 5); Sokołowski, op. cit. [1883b] (note 5); Sokołowski, op. cit. [1889] (note 5).

7 On the exhibition of the collection in Langierówka see F. Kopera, Sprawozdanie Dyrekcyi Muzeum Narodowego w Krakowie 1901–1902, Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie (Krakow, 1903), pp. 15–16. The set was later transferred to the Numismatic Cabinet of the Emeryk Hutten-Czapski Museum, see: Anon., Przewodnik po Muzeum im. hr. Emeryka Hutten-Czapskiego w Krakowie, Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie (Krakow, 1908), pp. 4, 85 (cat. nos 582–90). It was probably exhibited there until the outbreak of the First World War, although the latest mention of the display dates from 1910: see J. Krzyżanowski, Sprawozdanie Dyrekcyi Muzeum Narodowego w Krakowie za rok 1910 (Krakow, 1911).

8 Śliwa, op. cit. [1989] (note 2), p. 33; Śliwa, op. cit. [2012] (note 2), p. 320.

9 J. A. Ostrowski, ‘Sprawozdanie z działalności Muzeum Narodowego w Krakowie w latach 1966–1969’, in Z. Gołubiewowa (ed.), Rozprawy i sprawozdania Muzeum Narodowego w Krakowie xi (Krakow, 1976), p. 239.

10 On the occasion of the sale of the collection to the National Museum in Krakow in June 1886, Schmidt-Ciążyński in col-laboration with the employees of the National Museum com-piled a complete list of the objects included. This document (as well as its duplicate copy) is now preserved at the Archive of the National Museum in Krakow. Additionally, the number of objects sold to the Museum is confirmed in W. Łuszczkiewicz, Inwentarz dyr. Łuszczkiewicza, Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie (Krakow, 1883–1900). In the inventories of the National Museum in which the gems from Schmidt-Ciążyński are recorded can be found the information that some of the rings were stolen, and some later retrieved. In his discussion on this issue, Śliwa put forward a hypothesis that some rings were probably sacrificed in the action called ‘Gold for Swords’, organized in Krakow during the Polish-Soviet War (1919–21). The authors would like to express their gratitude for this clue, which deserves further investigation: to date no concrete proof of use the objects in this action has been found.

11 M. Fredro-Boniecka, ‘Gemmy z podpisami artystów w Muzeum Narodowym w Krakowie. Cz.1 Gemmy Pilcherów’, Wiadomości Numizmatyczno-Archeologiczne 20 (1939), pp. 278–92; M. Fredro-Boniecka, ‘Gemmy z podpisami arty-stów w Muzeum Narodowym w Krakowie Cz.2’, Wiadomości Numizmatyczno-Archeologiczne 21 (1949), pp. 53–84.

12 See note 2.

13 J. Śliwa, ‘Eine unbekannte Abraxasgemme aus der Sammlung von Konstantin Schmidt-Ciążyński’, in Nubia et Oriens Christianus, Bibliotheca Nubica i (Cologne, 1987), pp. 445–9; J. Śliwa, ‘Konstanty Schmidt-Ciazynski (1817–1889).



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Zapomniany kolekcjoner i znawca starożytnej gliptyki’, Meander xliii nos 9–10 (1988), pp. 437–51; J. Śliwa, ‘Gemma z przedstawieniem “Pantheosa” z kolekcji Konstantego Schmidta-Ciążyńskiego’, Eos 78 (1990), pp. 163–7; J. Śliwa, ‘Bahram Gor and Azade: an unknown Sassanian gem in the collection of Constantine Schmidt-Ciążyński’, in Studies in Ancient Art and Civilization 1 (1991), pp. 49–52; J. Śliwa, ‘Three magical gems with representations of Chnoubis from the collection of Konstanty Schmidt-Ciążyński’, Notae Numismaticae - Zapiski Numizmatyczne 3–4 (1999), pp. 25–30; J. Śliwa, ‘Gnostische Gemmen in den Krakauer Sammlungen’, in A. Mastrocinque (ed.), Gemme gnostiche e cultura ellenis-tica, Atti dell’incontro di studio, Verona 22–23 ottobre 1999 (Bologna, 2002), pp. 271–9; J. Śliwa, ‘Group of mask-animal gems from the collection of Constantine Schmidt-Ciążyński’, Études et Travaux 25 (2012), pp. 379–87; J. Śliwa, ‘Constantine Schmidt-Ciążyński and his collection’, in idem, Magical Gems from the Collection of Constantine Schmidt-Ciążyński and from other Polish Collections (forthcoming), pp. 19–97.

14 B. Kaim-Małecka, ‘Catalogue des intailles orientales des musées Polonais’, Acta Archaeologica Lovaniensia 32 (1993), pp. 59-9.

15 M. Myśliński, ‘Sceny gonitw rydwanów na hipodromie w Konstantynopolu – dwie gemmy w zbiorach Muzeum Narodowego w Krakowie’, in W. Bulsza and L. Sadko (eds), Ars Graeca − Ars Latina. Studia dedykowane Profesor Annie Różyckiej Bryzek (Krakow, 2001), pp. 49–54; M. Myśliński, ‘Gemmy późnoantyczne i bizantyńskie w polskich kolekc-jach muzealnych’, Instytut Sztuki Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Stowarzyszenie Historyków Sztuki, Biuletyn Historii Sztuki 68 no. 2 (2006), pp. 229–33.

16 See Grzegorzewski, op. cit. (note 5); Sokołowski, op. cit. [1883a] (note 5); K. Estreicher, Pan Konstanty Schmidt (Ciążyński) i jego zbiory (Krakow, 1883).

17 See Grzegorzewski, op. cit. (note 1), p. 357; Śliwa, op. cit. [2012] (note 2), p. 310–11. The authors are very much indebted to Dr Georg Plattner of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna for his kind help in searching for any reference to Friderich von Kenner’s opinion on the Constantine Schmidt-Ciążyński collection in the Museum’s archives. Unfortunately, no such mention has been found, so we must assume that the opinion was orally transmitted.

18 Anon., ‘Dary do Muzeum Narodowego w Krakowie’, Czas 153 (1886), p. 3.

19 See note 14.

20 See Śliwa, op. cit. [1989] (note 2).

21 P. Gołyźniak, ‘Three Greek golden engraved finger rings from the Constantine Schmidt-Ciążyński collection, the National Museum in Cracow’, Rozprawy Muzeum Narodowego w Krakowie (Seria Nowa), Papers of the National Museum in Krakow, new ser. vii (forthcoming).

22 See Śliwa, op. cit. [1989] (note 2); J. Śliwa, Magical Gems from the Collection of Constantine Schmidt-Ciążyński and from other Polish Collections (forthcoming), pp. 19–97.

23 See note 11.

24 For this information the authors are grateful to Mrs Monika Paś of the Department of Decorative Art and Material Culture. For agreement that they might conduct preliminary research on the objects they are indebted to the vice-director of the National Museum in Krakow, Mr Marek Świca.

25 H. C. Knüppel, Daktyliotheken. Konzepte einer historischen Publikationsform (Ruhpolding and Mainz, 2009), pp. 31–4; J. Boardman, D. Scarisbrick, C. Wagner and E. Zwierlein-Diehl, The Marlborough Gems formerly at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire (Oxford, 2009).

26 For this information we are grateful to Alicja Kiljańska, director of the Department iv – Decorative Art and Material Culture, and to Maria Wałach, employed in the Department.

27 B. Kołodziejowa, ‘Miejskie Muezeum Przemysłowe im. Dra Adriana Baranieckiego w Krakowie’, in Z. Gołubiewowa, Rozprawy i sprawozdania Muzeum Narodowego w Krakowie xi (Krakow, 1976), pp. 186–230.

28 See Śliwa, op. cit. [1989] (note 2), pp. 27–9; Śliwa, op. cit. [2012] (note 2), p. 315–18.

29 W. Łuszczkiewicz and F. Jakubowski, Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie. Sprawozdanie Zarządu za rok 1889 (Krakow, 1890).

30 The director of the National Museum in Krakow was reluc-tant to purchase the Schmidt-Ciążyński collection because in his opinion it had no patriotic character, lacking the works of the most famous Polish gem-engraver Jan Regulski (1760–1807). However, thanks to the strenuous efforts of K. Estreicher, J. Grzegorzewski and M. Sokołowski, the set was eventually acquired. For more about this issue, see ‘A letter from K. Estreicher to H. Modrzejewska and K. Chłapowski (4.xii.1883)’, in J. Got and J. Szczublewski, Korespondencja Heleny Modrzejewskiej i Karola Chłapowskiego, vol. ii: (1881–1909) (Warsaw, 1965), pp. 46–7; Grzegorzewski, op. cit. (note 1), pp. 357–8; Sokołowski, op. cit. [1889] (note 5), pp. 200–201.

31 See, for example, T. Mikocki, Najstarsze kolekcje starożytności w Polsce (lata 1750–1830) (Wrocław etc., 1990), pp. 120–23.

32 About Prince Stanislas Poniatowski’s collection see, for example, C. W. King, The Handbook of Engraved Gems, 2nd edn (London, 1885), pp. 193–7; S. Reinach, Pierres gravées des collections Marlborough et d’Orleans, des recueils d’Eckhel, Gori, Levesque de Gravelle, Mariette, Millin, Stosch, reunites et rééditées avec un texte nouveau (Paris, 1895), pp. 151–5; E. Bulanda, ‘Przyczynek do history zbioru gemm Stanisława Augusta’, Wiadomości numizmatyczno-archeologiczne (1913), pp. 181–4; O. Neverov, ‘Kolekcje dzieł sztuki dwóch Poniatowskich’, Archeologia 32 (1981), pp. 47–78; J. Kolendo: ‘Największy skandal w dziejach badań nad gliptyką antyczną. Kolekcja gemm ks. Stanisława Poniatowskiego’in Studia Archeologiczne, vol. i (Warsaw 1981), pp. 81–99, at p. 94; A. Laska, ‘Gemmy księcia Stanisława Poniatowskiego’, Opuscula Musealia 11 (2001), pp. 105–21; E. Zwierlein-Diehl, Antike Gemmen und ihr Nachleben (Berlin and New York, 2007), pp. 302–4; C. Wagner, ‘A picture-book of antiq-uity: the Neoclassical gem collection of Prince Poniatowski’, in P. Castillo P. et al. (eds), Congreso Internacional: Imagines. La Antigüedad en las Artes Escénicas y Visuales (Logroño, 2008), pp. 565–72; C. Wagner, ‘Fable and history: Prince Poniatowski’s Neoclassical gem collection’, in H. Wiegel and M. Vickers (eds), Excalibur: Essays on Antiquity and the History of Collecting in Honour of Arthur MacGregor (Oxford, 2013), pp. 145–50. On the collapse of the manufacturing of gems around the middle of the nineteenth century see, for example, Zwierlein-Diehl, op. cit., p. 297; D. Berges, Höchste Schönheit und einfache Grazie. Klassizistiche Gemmen und Kameen der Sammlung Maxwell Sommerville im University of Pennsylwania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Philadelphia, 2011), pp. 147–51.



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