Polish ceremonial belt or "Kontush Sash" in gold... Lot 18

Polish ceremonial belt or "Kontush Sash" in gold cloth and silk of Persian inspiration, Polish or Lyon manufacture, 18th century. Body in gold cloth with horizontal bands separated by checkerboard lines and embroidered with motifs of carnations, tulips and acanthus or fleurons of Persian Safavid or Mughal influence in coral, blue or yellow silk. Horizontal border decorated with a frieze of flowers and fine foliage, head decorated with a large floral composition with thistle or giant carnation on a swollen vase of Medicis type. Oxidation of the golden threads almost homogeneous, cut in half on all its length and reduced in height, doubled later, long bangs of golden metallic éffilé of origin. Width 22 - Length 190 cm EXPERT : Séverine Experton-Dard - Heritage Textile & Fashion Expert - www.sedexpert.com - email : sedxpert@gmail.com - tel. 06 80 65 12 18. Belts inspired by oriental culture, in silk or gold or silver cloth for the richest, were worn by representatives of the Polish nobility but also Ukrainians, Belarussians or Hungarians since the end of the 16th century. Initially imported from Persia and then from Ottoman Turkey through Armenian merchants, they became very fashionable in the 18th century and were woven in local workshops, the most famous of which, the one in Sluck, was located on the Radziwill family's land. Other workshops operated not only in Poland, but also in Moscow and even in Lyon, where the second example may have come from. The current Prelle factory, heir to the Dechazelle workshops created in 1749, still keeps albums containing numerous belt samples. The particularity of these belts is that they do not have a reverse side. There are three types: "uniface" a single pattern on both sides, "bifaces" two patterns on each side, but identical and "quadrifaces", the richest with two patterns on each side but different. Their length varies between 200 and 450 cm and their width from 30 to 55 cm. Bibliography: "Ceintures Polonaises, quand la Pologne s'habillait à Lyon", MTL - May 2001.