By Wawel Royal Castle
Dorota Gabryś, Ceramics and Glass Curator
The ceramics collection
Wawel Royal Castle holds a collection of over four hundred pieces of porcelain produced by the Royal Porcelain Manufactory at Meissen, Europe’s most celebrated porcelain manufactory.
The manufactory founded by the King of Poland and Elector of Saxony Augustus II the Strong (1670–1733) in 1710 is still in operation today and is renowned for its figurines and tableware.
The Crucifixion - Figural Group (1743-1744) by Kaendler Johann Joachim (1706-1775)Wawel Royal Castle
The Meissen manufactory was the first to use a material new to Europe – porcelain. The extremely hard, white, and translucent ceramic material had been known and used in East Asia since the 6th century.
At Meissen, it was successfully used to make pipes for an organ, bells, and free-standing sculptures.
Porcelain is an exceptionally difficult material to work with: larger objects are joined together from separately molded pieces while wet and can become damaged, deformed, or crack when fired at a temperature of over 1400° Celsius. As the porcelain is fired twice – bisque firing and glaze firing – it shrinks by about 15%.
Meissen sculptor Johann Jochim Kaendler (1706–1775) perfected the technique of modeling porcelain. A student of the Dresden sculptor Johann Benjamin Thomae (1682–1751), he worked at the Meissen Manufactory from 1733 through 1775.
The Crucifixion - Figural Group (1743-1744) by Kaendler Johann Joachim (1706-1775)Wawel Royal Castle
The multi-figured composition The Crucifixion (inv. no. 5085), one of Kaendler’s greatest works, entered the Wawel Castle collection in 1966 as part of the gift of Tadeusz Wierzejski (1892–1974).
Kaendler titled the sculpture Creutzingung Christi in his work report (Arbeitsberichte); his notes show that he worked on it from March through October of 1743 and that it was probably commissioned by King Augustus III.
When it was donated to Wawel Castle, the sculptural group was incomplete: the wooden base with the decorative rays of glory and angels was missing, as, more importantly, were the figures of Saint John the Evangelist, the Virgin Mary, Mary of Cleophas, and the major part of the figure of Christ. The segment with Saint John supporting the Virgin was acquired in 1987, but the remaining two missing figures were reconstructed using the original molds at during the conservation carried out in 1997–2001 by Wawel objects conservator Jan Kostecki in collaboration with the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory and the Dresden Porzellansammlung.
The Crucifixion - Figural Group (1743-1744) by Kaendler Johann Joachim (1706-1775)Wawel Royal Castle
The Wawel Crucifixion is comprised of fifteen elements, marked with red Roman numerals which indicate the order of assembly. The height of the sculpture from the bottom of the base to the tip of the cross that towers over the scene is 143 cm.
Christ
The dead Christ nailed to the cross, wearing only a perizoma billowing in the wind, with bent legs, and crown of thorns on his head drooping down to his right shoulder is the axis of the composition. All of the figures gathered at the foot of the cross gesture toward him.
The Skull
The skull lying next to the cross and the scattered bones symbolize Gogotha, “the place of the skull,” as well as the skull and bones of Adam, whose sin is being redeemed. Skillfully modeled grass, flowers, and twigs cover the surface of each segment forming a grassy ground cover when they are assembled.
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalen kneels at the foot of the cross, her hands folded in prayer. Her intricate hairstyle, gown, and the ample drapery of her coat which is attached to her is belt with a string of rosettes are meticulously rendered.
The Virgin Mary
On the other side, the limp figure of the swooning Virgin Mary is supported by the kneeling Saint John the Evangelist, who holds her right hand as her head rests on his knee.
Mary of Cleophas
A bit further back, to the left of the Virgin and Saint John, Mary, the wife of Cleophas wipes her tears with her mantle, her grief underscored by the modeling of the drapery.
The Crucifixion - Figural Group (1743-1744) by Kaendler Johann Joachim (1706-1775)Wawel Royal Castle
The segment behind Mary of Cleophas holds two figures: an old man leaning forward with his arms crossed over his chest, believed to be Nicodemus, and standing behind him a Roman soldier holding a halberd.
On the right, behind the figure of Mary Magdalene, are three figures, each on a separate base: an old man frantically gesturing at Christ, identified as Joseph of Arimathea, appears to be running toward the cross; a soldier holding a gaming die in one hand and the Crucified Christ’s seamless robe in the other, behind whom is a ladder propped up against a tree stump; and a soldier standing in a contrapposto pose and holding a halberd, possibly Longinus, beating his breast with his right hand.
The figures’ robes are formed in broad, sculptural folds; the Roman soldiers wear tunics beneath precisely rendered cuirasses and helmets with relief decorations.
The Crucifixion - Figural Group (1743-1744) by Kaendler Johann Joachim (1706-1775)Wawel Royal Castle
The virtuosic composition’s pyramidal structure and the splendidly portrayed relationships between the participants of the scene make it Kaendler’s greatest religious work.
In spite of – or perhaps because of – the use of this unconventional and capricious material, this sculptural group ranks among the most exquisite free-standing sculptures of the eighteenth century.
"The Crucifixion" - Part 1.
"The Crucifixion" - Part 2.
About the porcelain collection
Curator of the exhibition
Dorota Gabryś, Ceramics and Glass Curator
Translation
Sabina Potaczek-Jasionowicz
List of Photographs
Photography Department, Wawel Royal Castle
