Kontusz belt

The manufactories were established in Grodno in 1760 on King Stanisław August Poniatowski's authority. The Lithuanian court treasurer, Antoni Tyzenhauz, managed the newly established complex of factories, which could be started up and financed due to the income from the royal estates.

In 1769 a French weaver, Vincent Du Piney, was brought in to supervise work at the sash manufactory, or robe (kontusz) belt factory, which was set up as part of the royal manufactories in Grodno. At its peak, the factory employed around 200 people. The weavers and draughtsmen brought from the West were to give Polish belts a fashionable character. According to the royal recommendations, the manufactory's task was to shape the taste by introducing western, elegant patterns referring to French silk fabrics or haberdashery motifs used to cover French men's clothes, habits and tailcoats in the 18th century. Belts had decorative ends (the so-called heads) with asymmetrical composition and delicate, refined colours and refined forms of floral motives. Belts from Grodno were not signed; therefore, only stylistic features allow connecting specific relics with the manufactory. The draughtsmen employed in their design cared for originality and freshness of decorative solutions with a traditional arrangement of ornaments of this element of the Polish robe. However, fabrics from Grodno were not in high demand. There were opinions that they were tasteless and ugly. Small sales and the unprofitability of the enterprise caused the collapse of the royal manufactories in the early 1780s.

Magdalena Norkowska