New exhibition of unique ceramics opens at Royal Castle in Warsaw

'The King's Extraordinary Gift' is an exhibition of a set of dishes from the Turkish Sultan's table service, gathered from Polish collections. It is the first exhibition at the Royal Castle since its reopening after the coronavirus pandemic.

The table service, being shown at the Royal Castle for the first time, is an example of most famous work of the royal faience factory, founded by King Stanislaw August. It operated at the Belvedere Palace, in Warsaw, in the years 1770-1780, said Dr. Anna Szkurlat, the curator of the exhibition.

The priceless table service, made in 1776, was sent by the king as a gift to Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid I, via a Turkish member of parliament who was in Warsaw at that time

Another set of the table service was used by the monarch in the Royal Castle, which was confirmed by an entry in an inventory from 1795. The representative table service was decorated with sophisticated Imari-type patterns, closely modeled on original Far Eastern porcelain from 1720-1730, an example of which is shown in the exhibition.

The exhibition will be open to the public from May 28 to September 13.