Platter

Janina Orzeszko’s dental surgery was located at Trawna St. (currently, Maria Curie-Skłodowska St.) in Radom. A young dental technician named Rubinek supplied her office with tooth restorations made of dental gold. Danuta Orzeszko-Bałuk remembers that the items that Rubinek had left with her mother for safekeeping were contained in two packages: a small suitcase and a small briefcase. They constituted probably the young couple’s entire property. The donor assumes that the briefcase may have contained precisely valuable dental gold Rubinek used for making gold teeth, which he then supplied to surgeries like Janina Orzeszko’s office. The service must have come in the larger suitcase.

The second of the seven platters that Janina Orzeszko received as a token of gratitude for safekeeping the property of the Jewish Rubinek family during the occupation. The platter is shallow, oval-shaped, made of porcelain. The foot of the platter is distinct, its lip opens up slightly. The opposite edges of the vessel are slightly pointed, both have a handle in the form of an oblong opening at the pointed end.

The brown colour of the bottom gets brightened in the central part, where we can see a representation of a loving couple sitting on a tree branch. The woman, wearing a white cap on her head, rests against the man’s lap, her arms are stretched along the body. She is wearing a light-yellow skirt and white blouse, a pink corset and a sleeveless pinafore. The man sits on the woman’s right side, wrapping his left arm around her; his right hand is stretched upwards, as if gesticulating. He is wearing a brown wams (tight-fitting short caftan), light-purple pants, white stockings and black shoes, and a slightly cocked pale-pink cap.

The brown bottom with the genre scene is separated from the edge by a golden ornament, behind which there is a cobalt stripe, also decorated with a gold-coloured ornament. Next, a light yellow stripe is painted, decorated with a coloured floral ornament. The edges of the platter – including the handles – are painted gold.

MF