Seals of the Consuls and Municipality of the City of Krakow (K. W. Kielisiński's Album)

Kajetan Kielisiński created numerous etchings and drawings dedicated to folklore, the life of Polish villages and towns, historical monuments, and landscapes. In 1853, the Poznań publisher Jan Konstanty Żupański issued "Kielisiński's Album", gathering the artist's scattered works, most of which had remained unpublished during his lifetime. Two years later, in 1855, Żupański released a supplementary volume to complement the previous edition, which included etchings depicting coins and seals, figures in historical costumes, alongside rural and urban landscapes.
The presented etching belongs to the graphic sheets published within this 1855 supplement.
The sheet is a graphic record of four ancient seals belonging to the consuls and municipality of the city of Krakow. Four circular impressions of varying diameters are arranged in a vertical composition: large seals are placed in the upper and lower sections, while two smaller ones are featured in the centre. The author meticulously replicates the wax or sealing-wax texture and the silk cords with which the seals were appended to documents.
The seals feature Latin legends (circular inscriptions). The central fields contain images of St Stanislaus, St Wenceslaus, and the minor city coat of arms in the form of a defensive wall with three towers.
Kielisiński reproduces the sphragistic material with meticulous precision, conveying the iconography of the relief, the scripts, and the heraldic symbolism.

Bottom left below the image is the artist's monogram and date: "K.W.K. 15. Stycz. 1842. w Kurniku" [K.W.K. 15 January 1842 in Kórnik].

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery