A card table from the furniture collection of King Stanislaus Augustus has returned to the Royal Łazienki Palace in Warsaw. Listed as a wartime loss, the piece is back in Poland thanks to the efforts of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, with the table’s ceremonial return taking place on 30 April 2015 at the Palace on the Isle. The official decision entrusting the table to the care of the museum was signed by Minister of Culture and National Heritage Małgorzata Omilanowska and the director of the Royal Łazienki Park Museum Tadeusz Zielniewicz.

The Rococo inlaid card table was part of the opulent furniture collection of King Stanislaus Augustus (1764-1795). Initially serving as an element in the furnishings of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, it was likely relocated to the Royal Łazienki palace in 1836.

During World War I, the table most likely suffered the same fate as the Łazienki collection at large, being seized and sent away to Moscow.

In 1922, the campaign for the restitution of works of art from Russia carried out on the basis of the Treaty of Riga spawned the establishment of the State Art Collection to administrate the holdings of the Polish Treasury, which included the items from the Royal Łazienki estate. Exactly two years prior to the outbreak of World War II, the table resided on the first floor of the Palace on the Isle, as was noted in a 1937 inventory of Royal Łazienki Park property. On 1 February 1940, the piece was seized by German forces for the purpose of “furnishing the apartments at 13 Szopena street (residence of the former Czechoslovak envoy).”  

The table’s whereabouts remained a mystery until 2013, when it appeared in the catalogue of a Munich auction house. There was no doubt as to the identity of the table thanks to the numerous ownership markings appearing on the underside of the tabletop.

The circumstances enabled the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage – with the assistance of specialists from the Łazienki Park Museum, the Royal Castle and the National Museum in Warsaw – to file a restitution claim and to have the piece withdrawn from auction. But even after several months of discussions overseen by a renowned Berlin law firm, the party in possession of the table continued to categorically challenge the Polish ownership claims.

After an analysis of the possible legal recourses it was decided to file a lawsuit in the German court. That process yielded a settlement in which the Polish side agreed to cover the costs of the table’s restoration incurred by the opposing party.

photo: Hermann Historica