The decorative art artefacts collected by the National Museum since 1984 include both Polish and foreign objects (which are usually associated with Poland in some way). The size of the collection and its wealth of valuable museum pieces make it one of the most important large collections of decorative art in Poland.
The collection was mainly acquired through donations, from both major collectors and private individuals donating single objects. The various objects collected over the years from many different sources and historical periods have now been divided into groups and arranged into a larger chronological whole providing an overview of the main line of development of Polish material culture.
The organisers of the National Museum in Krakow did not originally plan to collect decorative art. Allowance was made, however, for acquisition of 'historical relics' and 'memorabilia of important national figures' or 'persons involved in historical events'. The first pieces were donated in 1884, almost simultaneously. These included an open-work tower carved out of ivory by the Siberian deportee Jan Oksza-Czechowski, donated by the artist himself, and a side wall of a ceremonial carriage donated by Count Jan Marian Drohojowski. Among the early acquisitions especially noteworthy are the Adam Mickiewicz memorabilia sent from Paris by the poet's son Władyslaw. In 1891 the Museum received a deposit from the Polish Academy of Learning in Krakow – on the basis of a resolution adopted in 1889 it presented militaria and ancient artefacts to the Museum which had earlier been donated to the former Krakow Society of Learning.
The Second Museum Statute of 1901 sanctioned the collection of decorative art objects and decreed the establishment of the Artistic Industry Department.
In the period 1901-1939 the Museum acquired a series of large private collections, all of which included decorative art objects: in 1902 Włodzimiera and Adam Szołayski donated a number of gold pieces, several clocks, as well as porcelain and glassware; a year later Stanisław Męczyński endowed the Museum with more than 100 ceramic artefacts from factories in Korzec and Baranówka. The enormous collection of Emeryk Hutten-Czapski included valuable Polish and Saxon glassware, ceramics, Masonic memorabilia, chamberlain's keys, rings, and signet stones. In 1908 Stanisław Ursyn Rusiecki donated the Kruszwica Reliquary dating from the second quarter of the 12th century and in 1935-1937 a large collection of Polish and foreign glassware, a collection of mirrors including several made in the factory in Urzecz, as well as porcelain and furniture. In 1909 Edward Goldstein began to send donations from France of furniture, glassware, ceramics and miscellaneous objects. In the same year the Museum received a bequest from Zeneida and Teodor Dunin including glassware, ceramics, and Art Nouveau furniture, for example a set of furniture with maple leaf motifs painted by Warsaw artist Bronisława Poświkowa.
In 1912, at the auction of the collections of Lesser Giełdziński in Berlin, the Museum purchased furniture from Gdańsk: a large armoire, two smaller wardrobes decorated with carved depictions of Bacchus and Justitia, and other pieces.
In 1926 the Museum received a bequest of Kościuszko memorabilia from the legacy of General Franciszek Maksymilian Paszkowski, which had been in his family for three generations. These were left to the Museum by Franciszek Paszkowski, the General's grandson.
In 1929, after the death of Feliks Jasieński, the Museum took possession of the collection he had bequeathed to it in 1920 which included a large quantity of Polish and foreign furniture, for example secretary desk bureaus from Kolbuszowa, beautiful Polish jewellery chests, and also a large collection of Polish and foreign ceramics.
In 1935 Anna and Franciszek Laskowski endowed the Museum with the large legacy of Maciej Wentzl which included glassware, ceramics, jewellery (with some patriotic pieces), timepieces and snuffboxes.
During World War II the department containing the valuable collection of Erazm Barącz was liquidated. Decorative art objects from the collection were therefore transferred to the Department of Decorative Art, for example Empire and Biedermeier furniture and several pieces of furniture from the 17th and 18th centuries, French and Polish clocks, Italian majolicas and Dutch faiences.
After World War II large donations of decorative art pieces were rare. In 1948 the Museum acquired the legacy of Mieczysław Gąsecki including cordovans from the end of the 17th century, and in 1949 the valuable collection of Leon Kostka which included gold pieces, jewellery, timepieces, snuffboxes, gems, and glassware. In 1951 Elza Krausowa bequeathed furniture, glassware, porcelain and faiences to the Museum.
When the Museum took over the collections of the former Industrial Museum in Krakow in 1950, some of the objects remained in the building at 9 Smoleńsk St, though the Industrial Museum's artistic collections contributed many valuable artefacts to the Department of Decorative Art, for example gold items from Gdańsk, Augsburg and Nuremburg, Czech Biedermeier glassware and glassware in historical styles, furniture and musical instruments, as well as a large quantity of Polish and foreign ceramics.
The next large donation was made in 1987 and 1996 when Ryszard Mehoffer and his sister Magdalena Skarżyńska donated furniture and other items for the decoration of the biographical museum of Józef Mehoffer.
In 1995 and 1997 the Museum was endowed with the legacy of Józef Czapski, donated by Elżbieta Łubieńska, which mainly consisted of workshop equipment and memorabilia items from Maisson Laffitte.
The collection of the Department of Decorative Art is divided into 13 sections: goldsmithery – objects made from gold or silver, gold-plated, silver-plated, or enamel pieces, and jewellery; gem glyptics – gems, cameos and intaglios; metals – artefacts made from tin, brass, bronze, and iron; ceramics – faiences, porcelain, majolicas, glassware including table glassware, rare or valuable pieces, mirrors and stained glass; glass painting; clocks; precision and measuring instruments; furniture and musical instruments; artefacts made from organic materials; academic implements and miscellany.
The most valuable objects are on display in the permanent exhibition in the Gallery of Decorative Art in the Main Building. Valuable heirlooms such as timepieces, jewellery and gem collections are kept in storage.
The collection of gems is one of the most valuable groups of artefacts in the Department. The core of the collection are the 2500 objects from the collection of Konstanty Schmidt-Ciążyński which was given to the Museum in 1886. The collection includes Mesopotamian cylindrical seals, Sassanid gems, scarabs and scaraboids, magical gems, Greek and Roman intaglios and cameos, and numerous modern gems from Italy, Germany, and England, many of them signed.
Due to lack of exhibition space decorative art and material culture pieces from the 20th century are only available for research. These include collections of objects from the Industrial Museum and the Krakow Workshops.
Artefacts from the interwar period – mainly ceramic, but also including furniture and glassware.
Material culture artefacts from the second half of the 20th century, both valuable decorative items and utility objects, are included in the stored collections of glassware and ceramics. *[Glassware by Jerzy Słuczan Orkusz – Glassware Store 208, Main Building] The collection includes modern glassware designed by Henryk Albin Tomaszewski, Zbigniew Horbowy, Władysław Zych, Jerzy Orkusz and many others.
Also impressive is the collection of post-war ceramics, particularly objects from Krakow and the workshops in Włocławek, Ćmielów, Chodzież, and Koło.
The Museum's collections also include traditional ceramics from various parts of Poland including a large collection of Hutsul ceramics from the late 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The bowl on display is the work of Aleksander Bachmiński, one of the most well known potters from Kosów. It was purchased in 1877 at a national exhibition in Lwów by Count Włodzimierz Dzieduszycki, an expert and aficionado of Polish ceramics, and donated to the Krakow Technical and Industrial Museum. It was later passed on to us together with the collections of that institution.
