A FINE AND EXCEEDINGLY RARE MEN’S COURT UNIFORM OF THE CONGRESS KINGDOM OF POLAND (1815-1867), POLISH OR RUSSIAN, SECOND QUARTER OF THE 19TH CENTURY (CA. 1850). The black broadcloth eight-button high-collared frock coat with single vented back, the face, blue collar and cuffs, and rear pleats heavily and directly embroidered in gilt-metal thread (now tarnished) in an allover pattern of acorns and oak leaves, with gilt-metal buttons by “Buch” (????) of St. Petersburg centering the Small State Arms of the Congress Kingdom of Poland (1832-1848).  The coat retains on the left shoulder a red sash cord (presumably for the sash of the Royal Order of St. Stanislas, First Class) and the front left breast sewn to hold two stars.

This exceedingly fine and rare court uniform from the Congress Kingdom of Poland is perhaps a unique survivor of an important but brief period in Polish and Russian history.

The “Congress” Kingdom of Poland was created from the “Duchy of Warsaw” a former Napoleonic State by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. In their reorganization of Europe after the defeat of Napoleon, the Great Powers partitioned the Polish lands, and divided the territories between Russia, Austria, and Prussia. The Russian section of Poland was called the “Kingdom of Poland” and though technically by virtue of its constitution it was a Sovereign State , it was, in fact, a sub-national kingdom within the Russian Empire, with H.M. Emperor Alexander I Pavlovich as King of Poland.

The officially autonomous Polish state originally possessed one of the most liberal constitutions in nineteenth century Europe, with a “Sejm” or Parliament responsible to the King (ie the Emperor of Russia), capable of independent voting laws, with its own independent army, budget and currency, code of laws, and even customs boundaries separating it from the Russian Empire. The Polish people and the Polish nobility were exceptionally independent and nationalistic, and heartily resented this impingement on their freedoms by the autocratic Russian state.

After the Congress of Vienna was signed, Russia began to violate the terms of the treaty and to impose Russian rule and Russification on the Kingdom of Poland. Emperor Alexander appointed his brother HIH Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich Viceroy of Poland, and gave him almost complete autocratic powers over the Congress Kingdom. These efforts at Russification began to enrage the Poles. In 1819, Konstantin Pavlovich imposed preventatory censorship and abolished freedom of the Press, established the Russian secret service in Poland, and began from about 1820 to repress both public and secret societies or groups that advocated an autonomous or independent Poland. The activities of the Roman Catholic church were restricted, and in 1821, the practice of freemasonry (long linked to Polish freedoms fighters) was abolished by Alexander I.

Court Uniforms and Edict on Court Dress of Emperor Nicholas I Pavlovich

Nicholas I was crowned King of Poland on 24 May 1829 in Warsaw, but he declined to swear to abide by the Constitution. After his accession, a massive reorganization of the laws and codes of the Russian Empire were affected which also had serious and long-term effects upon the Kingdom of Poland. Nicholas I and his advisor Count M.M. Speransky published the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire in 1833, including the Edict on Court Dress, which codified the uniforms for men of the Russian Imperial Court–and presumably for those at the Court in Russian Poland as well.

It is, however, unclear exactly for what rank and office the offered lot served. It was made for a high-ranking official, as the amount of embroidery indicates. It has been suggested most reasonably that the coat was that that of a Polish Court Chamberlain. The color of the uniform is correct for that position, and the blue collar is a sufficient differentiation from the Russian chamberlain’s uniforms, which had red collars. The Russian Imperial Chamberlains’ uniforms, however, had an abstracted overall embroidery pattern based on acanthus and laurel, rather than oaks and acorns most usually associated with senators. While the offered lot has been suggested to be a Senator's coat, the Polish Senate or "Sejm" was dissolved in 1831, and the heraldry on the buttons is that of Poland between 1831-1867.

Another sign pointing to possible use as a Chamberlain’s coat is the presence at the hip of a pair of reinforced holes. This is where Russian court chamberlains attached the “Chamberlain’s Key”–a ceremonial gilt bronze key, mounted on a pale blue moire ribbon as a symbol of their access to the Emperor’s private apartments. Unusually, the coat also has a reinforced access for the ceremonial sword required worn with court uniforms.

The coat also retains intact the sash cord and star fastenings by which the Orders and Decorations of the Polish Kingdom were attached to the coat.

Jackson’s is grateful to Mr. Nick B.A. Nicholson for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.