Persian factory - manufactory of Prince Karol RADZIWIOL "Mr. Lover" (founded 1767), Four-sided kontusz belt

silk yarn, silver and gilt thread, 440 cm long, 35 cm wide; head height ca 25.5 cm.
Slutsk, manufactory of Prince Karol Radziwill run by Jan Madzharsky, 1767-1780 (unsigned).
In the heads of the belt - two motifs of bushes each, inscribed in rectangles; each bush at the bottom composed of two truncated stumps growing out of the mounds, which in turn give rise to flowered twigs united in an arch, braided above - also marking the axis of symmetry. On the right side: the background of the heads is half gold, half silver, the flowers (stylized lilies and chrysanthemums?) pink and salmon and blue and pink and white and olive. On the left side - brown background, gold-beige and silver-beige ornament, pink flowers. Transverse boxes on the right side - half gold and silver, half amaranth and silver; between them a box with pink and blue floral vicia on a silver background. On the left side, a box with a vignette on a brown background with a pink pattern; in addition, a plain box - half blue, half gold-gold. Bordiurs on the right side silver, flowers pink, blue-green, blue. On the left side - background of omnidirectional stripes brown, silver thread, pink and blue flowers. At the ends of the heads - gold tassels.
State of preservation: visible rubbing and repairs.
Belts with similar ornamentation of heads are extremely rare; they were woven only in Slutsk workshops; they did not appear in other manufactories. Single pieces are known in museum collections: in the National Museum in Warsaw (inv. no. MNW 156548, SZT 519 MNW) and in the National Museum in Cracow.
(Cf: Jadwiga Chruszczyńska, kontusz belts from Polish manufactures and workshops in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw; Warsaw, 1995, p.82, cat. no. 32, il.IV, p.17).