The plaques are plaster casts of bell decoration designs. The artist is Józef Wilk, a sculptor, painter, and educator associated with Przemyśl. He was born in 1881 in Suchodole near Krosno and died in Przemyśl in 1957. In the 1920s, the artist began collaborating with the Felczyński Brothers’ bell foundry in Przemyśl. The plaques on display are an example of this. They are in the form of a raised relief, depicting ornaments and religious scenes. The plaque depicts “Our Lady of St. Jack,” made in 1927. The image adorned the “Marja” bell, approximately 75 cm in diameter, intended for the Przemyśl Cathedral. The bell, funded by the bell founders, still exists today. The “Marja” bell represented the Felczyński Brothers’ Foundry at the 1927 International Exhibition in Paris, where it won a gold medal. The plaque “Our Lady of Chełm” is a memento of a bell named “Mary” that no longer exists. It was made in 1938 by Ludwik Felczyński for the basilica in Chełm, commemorating the founding of a new painting of Our Lady of Chełm by Władysław Ukleja. The bell weighed 1,950 kg. The instrument only lasted a short time because it cracked due to warfare in 1939. After the war, the unfit bell was melted down in the Felczyński workshop. A group of five plaques are designs for the bell decoration for the Uniate church in Przemyśl. The bell was made in 1937 at the Felczyński Brothers’ bell foundry. It currently resides in the freestanding bell tower at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Przemyśl. The group of plaques includes two versions of the “Baptism of Christ in the Jordan” scene, which appears on the bell’s mantle. The next two plaques are designs for the “Seraphim and Grape” ornament placed around the circumference of the bell’s neck. The final plaque, “Angel,” has a three-sided shape and is a design for the handle from the bell’s crown. In the design, the Angel has his wings spread out flat to the sides, while on the bell, the wings are bent back, conforming to the shape of the handle.
