Fitting 001

Fitting 001

The middle ring, called “starry”, is an element of a set of decorated iron fittings of a wagon drawbar, shaped like a disc. It is one of the three rings that strengthen the bar at the place where the drawbar base is placed (the bars are two rods, the front elements of the wagon’s chassis, constituting the drawbar base and supporting the drawbar at the appropriate height). The ring is decorated with an imprinted pattern, using the blacksmith's method of punching, stamping. Blacksmiths decorated the fittings on their own initiative, free of charge. Ornamenting the cart was to encourage the hosts to order blacksmith products. The metal sheets were decorated with stamps: single semicircular and double semicircular, notched semicircular, stars, sunflowers, punches for punching holes and "numbers" for stamping the date of the fittings’ manufacture, the name of the owner and the blacksmith's initials.

There is a central motif on the ring, emphasizing the round shape of the ring's disc, centrally located sun with 14 rays. Around the central sun, 4 suns of the same size arranged alternately with four deeply arched serrated lines. Along the edges of the ring, a striped motif of serrated semicircles touching, positioned with the serrations towards the center of the central motif. The fitting was made by a blacksmith master, Władysław Benbenek.

Item: drawbar fitting

Material, technique:

Dimensions: height 8 cm, disc diameter 9 cm

Creation time: 1962

Origin: Przeworsk

Owner: The Museum in Przeworsk The Palace-Park Complex