Kontush sash ("kontusz belt"; , ) was a cloth

sash A sash is a large and usually colorful ribbon or band of material worn around the human body, either draping from one shoulder to the opposing hip and back up, or else encircling the waist. The sash around the waist may be worn in daily attire, ...

used for girding a

kontusz A ''kontusz'' (, ; ; ; originally from , ) is a type of outer garment worn by the Hungarian and Polish–Lithuanian male nobility. It became popular in the 16th century and came to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth rule via Hungary from Tur ...

(a robe-like garment). It was one of the most distinctive items of male dress of Polish and Lithuanian nobility (''

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...

'') and is a key component of the . In an earlier period, sometimes narrower sashes of fine cloth or silk net were worn, but the wide kontusz sash is specific to the later period. A variant known in Belarus lands is .

Origins

Like the rest of the Polish national dress, the kontusz sash was of eastern origin. It comprised a 3- to 4.5-meter-long strip of fabric covered with varied designs, around 40 cm wide. Luxurious sashes were made with

silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

and

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

. Depending on the sash's width, it might be folded a number of ways so as to reveal various designs on various occasions; the most ornate sashes were considered to have four sides. Initially such sashes were imported from

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. In the 17th century several sash

manufactories A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. The ...

were founded at places all over '' Rzeczpospolita'', such as Kobyłka,

Lipków Lipków is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Stare Babice, within Warsaw West County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It lies approximately north-west of Stare Babice, north of Ożarów Mazowiecki, and west of Wa ...

Hrodna Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, from Minsk, about from the border with Poland, and from the border with Lithuania. Grodno serves as the ad ...

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

and

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

. The largest and most notable manufacturies, however, were at

Slutsk Slutsk is a town in Minsk Region, in central Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Slutsk District, and is located on the Sluch (Belarus), Sluch River south of the capital Minsk. As of 2025, it has a population of 59,450. Geography ...

. Sashes produced there were considered the most desirable and were also the most expensive. Because of the popularity of the ''pas kontuszowy'' produced there, it was sometimes called ''pas słucki'' (Slutsk sash), regardless of the actual place of origin. Slutsk sashes had two different color patterns on each side.

Kontush Sash an attribute of a nobleman

The Kontush Sash (belt) has an oriental provenance rooted in Persian and Turkish tradition. Continual contact between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Persia and even more with Turkey developed vast trade roots and raised popular interest in oriental art and decoration all over Eastern Europe. The Ideology of Sarmatism created in the XVIc a embracing many the nations of the Commonwealth. The Kontush Belt was a visual manifestation of Sarmatian identity and was widely popular in Lithuania and Belarus, in Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Saxony, Moldavia, Besarabia and some parts of Russia. Kontush belts were worn by the Nobility, Cossack elders and high municipal officials. The time of prosperity during the period of XVI – XVIIIc created surplus financial resources often channeled into culture, art and decoration. Polish Armenian merchants imported objects of luxury: oriental carpets, weapons decorated with gold and stones, expensive fabrics. Kontush belts especially emphasized the status of the bearer and were unusually expensive. At a certain moment the demand for Kontush belts became so large that it was necessary to open local manufacturing on the territory of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The workshops producing Kontush Belts in Slutsk, Grodno, Lvov, Vilnius, Buchach, Kobylki, Kraków, Gdansk, Lipkow were opened mostly by Polish–Lithuanian Armenians. The belts that were made there still had a lot of oriental ornamentation, but had their own distinct character – different from the belts formerly imported from Persia and Turkey. There was a practical aspect to the belt as well. Folded in half and wrapped around the body, it served as a pocket for money and documents. Most belts are about 30 cm wide and around 3,5m long. As a result of the weaving technique – one side of the belt was a negative of the other. This way it was possible for the belt to have two different color schemes (so called two-sided belt). Further division of the belt allowed for four color compositions (four-sided belt). The price of the belt depended on the materials used (sometimes they added silver and gold thread). The complexity of the design raised the price even more since it required more complicated manufacturing machinery, higher qualifications of the craftsmen and a longer production cycle. The four-sided belts were the most expensive. They were meant to be worn on different occasions: bright side – for weddings, dark side for funerals, green side for the green kontush etc. Very often the belt served as a table decoration – it was placed on the center atop the table cloth.

In popular culture

A modern Polish poet and a singer,

Jacek Kaczmarski Jacek Marcin Kaczmarski (22 March 1957 – 10 April 2004) was a Polish singer, songwriter, poet and author. Life He was the son of painter Anna Trojanowska-Kaczmarska, a Pole of Jewish background, and the artist Janusz Kaczmarski. Kaczmarski ...

, has sung about those sashes in one of his ballads, ''Z pasa słuckiego pożytek'' ("The Use of a Slutsk Sash").

References

External links

;Pictures *https://web.archive.org/web/20060306184828/http://www.mnw.art.pl/Zbiory/stefan%20for%20web/pas%20kontuszowy.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20070311022045/http://www.muzeum.slupsk.pl/grafika/galeria/duze/s751.jpg *http://img.interia.pl/encyklopedia/nimg/kontusz15.jpg *https://web.archive.org/web/20080512064601/http://monika.univ.gda.pl/~literat/kitowic/pas.htm *https://web.archive.org/web/20070310214025/http://www.nova-polska.pl/fr/site/program/wy_in_splendor_poloniae/fo_dijon_pas_kontuszowy.jpg

Origins

Kontush Sash an attribute of a nobleman

In popular culture

See also

References

External links

Further reading