| Sketches of amber. From regalium Teutonic masterpieces Maucherowskich |
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Central warehouse of amber in the Teutonic religious state was in the castle Sambian Lochstedt. The raw material was stored in barrels of sea water. Hence, the officially supplied the workshop Krolewiec and exported it to the west. Intermediate storage for the Gdansk and Elblag guilds were in the local castles komturskich. It is assumed that the material was coming from there characteristic amber-surrounding areas, and thus for the local production. After 1466, the Teutonic past amber rack from across the property of Polish kings, the Sambia remained in the hands of the Teutonic Knights. After 1525 he became the Regal Prince Albrecht Hohenzollern and his successors. Gdansk city council is the owner of the land resources belonging to the city. There was no shortage of other monopolists, however, the amber trade. Since 1533, a monopoly on the supply of raw amber workshops in Gdansk took the merchant Paul Jasky (Jaschke, Geschke). This is an issue known. I recall, however, that the characteristics of Gdansk requested a number of complaints against Paul, among others to the king himself. Jasky accused of `emu that all the raw materials and ransomed it in stock, and those who asked for the sale, extract inferior species. The better export or transmit his amber jeweler. With this shocking contemporary craft closer to read the opinion of Sigismund Augustus during your stay in Gdansk in 1552. King agreed with the guild. He ordered the mayor and council to force a monopolist to sell half of the stored material masters of Gdansk. However, the characteristics, in order for the future independence from Jasky `s, looking for other sources of raw amber, including in Oliwa. Right there, in the shadow of the walls of the monastery, the monks worked in the care of many serwitorzy not belonging to the Gdansk's guild, which will be loud in the next century. Tezauryzowany amber pomnażał not state whether the treasure of the city council. Stored in poor conditions, such as in a vault with low humidity, greatly lost its relevance to artistic treatment. Amber, which traded, richer the owner, made a boom in demand, it was generally an upward trend. Antoni Romuald Chodyński |