Coupé

A coupѐ is a two-person carriage from 1898 for outings in the country, pulled by a four-in-hand and four-abreast configuration. It belonged to Count Józef Potocki from Antonin and was initially used there, and later in Łańcut after being incorporated to the Łańcut coach house. The Volhynia residence in Antonin which belonged to Józef Potocki, the son of second Łańcut ordynat, Alfred Józef and the younger brother of Roman, third Ordynat, was one of the most exquisite Polish residences at the turn of the 20th century. It was famed for the impetus which Count Józef exercised in its extension and arrangement, stylish par force and rifle hunting sessions, the breeding of Arab horses, wealth and opulence. Destroyed in 1919, it is one of several legendary grand Polish estates in the Eastern Borderlands. Józef Potocki’s family home was Łańcut; he visited it often with his wife Helena née Radziwiłł when it became the seat of his brother Roman and had his own apartment and two country coaches marked with his emblems there. Today, they are the only Polish coaches from the Eastern Borderlands that have been preserved. One of them is a coupѐ in the natural wood colour, as since the second half of the 19th century such coaches were used for country outings. The distinguishing mark of the carriage testifying to its Eastern Borderland origin is the whiffletree for a team of four horses in the abreast configuration. The classic team of four in hand comprises two pairs of horses, one behind the other. In the four abreast configuration, all animals walk side by side. Such configuration, deriving from the coachman culture, was typical and common for noblemen’s carriages in Volhynia and Ukraine ˗ and was used only there until the obliteration of the Polish Eastern Borderlands in 1939. The Antonin carriage has a whiffletree typical for a team of four in hand, provided with two additional, metal arms which, after pulling out, make up a whiffletree for a team of four abreast. At the same time, it is not an added element, but an original one, created by the manufacturer on special request. It is interesting to note that this traditional element in the Antonin coach is accompanied by modern bulbs placed in lamps, which have the form of traditional candle-holders, and in the ceiling light inside the vehicle. The bulbs were supplied from batteries placed under the coachman’s box. Aldona Cholewianka-Kruszyńska