Stoup [MPS-11915, Credo exhibition]
A stoup from around 1581, from the church in Żurawica. Carved from limestone, traces of polychrome remain on its bowl and base. The stoup was originally a baptismal font, donated by Sebastian Lubomirski and his wife, Anna née Branicka, in 1581, as part of the furnishings of the wooden church in Żurawica – also funded by them. The church no longer exists. The stoup comes from the museum’s former collection. On the stoup bowl, polar opposite each other, are two coats of arms in Mannerist, decorative cartouches adorned with swirling ornamentation. On the left is the quadripartite coat of arms of Sebastian Lubomirski. In the upper left field is the Szreniawa coat of arms of the Lubomirski variety. Below, probably, is the coat of arms of Sebastian’s mother, Barbara Hrussoy de Zablath – an ouroboros – a dragon swallowing its own tail. On the right side, at the top of the shield, is the Odrowąż coat of arms. Below, the Leliwa coat of arms. On the right side of the bowl is the coat of arms of Anna Lubomirska, née Branicka, the Gryf. Of all the coats of arms displayed in the two shields, the most interesting is that of Sebastian’s mother, who may have been of Hungarian descent. The coat of arms, featuring a dragon swallowing its own tail, formerly represented the Order of the Dragon, founded in 1408 by King Sigismund of Luxembourg of Hungary. Over time, the ouroboros became part of Hungarian heraldry.