Plate with a portrait of John III Sobieski

The portrait of John III Sobieski on the Nieborów plate is maintained in blue tones, painted with cobalt, and its composition refers to the representation of the king in the painting by H. Gascar from 1691, popularised by numerous prints (currently in the Wawel collection). The composition of the painting is subdued in both the sketchy character of the portrait and the careful way of painting the decorative border – the collar – giving the miniature representation of the ruler nobility, even monumentality.
The maiolica from Nieborów belongs to the most exciting and valuable examples illustrating the historicising tendencies present in 19th-century European ceramics. In the case of Polish art, references to the past in the culture of the time had a patriotic overtone, which was also significant for the originators and decorators of the Nieborów maiolica.