Wooden sculpture The Golden Treasure from Witaszków (Pol.: Złoty Skarb z Witaszkowa)

Artworks

Wooden sculpture The Golden Treasure from Witaszków (Pol.: Z?oty Skarb z Witaszkowa)

Description

The sculpture shows a scaled-up representation of an amulet in the form of a fish, decorated with Scythian figured motifs related to the cult of the water source. A deer, rams, pig, lion, lioness, falcon, fish, mermaid, as well as elements geometricizing the eyes and some of the peti of the base figure, covered with scales are to discover on the surface of the sculpture.

The sculpture together with a trilingual information board are located in the eastern part of the center of the Theater Island (pol. Wyspa Teatralna), right next to the main pedestrian and bicycle route.

Historical background

The artwork’s project was done in 2009 by Waldemar Pawlikowski, the manager of the "Ratusz" gallery. The main sculpturing work conducted the artist Julian Zapłański with an assistance of Zbigniew Kaczanowski and Bogdan Fajdak, employees of the municipal office in Gubin.

The Golden Treasure from Witaszków (Ger.: Vettersfelde, Pol.: Złoty Skarb z Witaszkowa) was found by August Lauschke between 5th and 7th October 1882 on the field he cultivated. After the discovery, he handed over most of it to the landowner, Prince Heinrich, who, confiscating it, organized its sale in antiquities shop of the Royal Museum in Berlin. After a careful inventory carried out by Ernst Curtius on 22.01.1883, Lauschke received full compensation for the found treasure in the amount of 6,000.00 marks. The remaining part of the treasure that Lauschkr did not give to the landowner has been lost, possibly being given to family and acquaintance.

Thanks to the work of Hugo Jentsch and Edward Krause, professors of the Guben gymnasium, sketches, and descriptions documenting the treasure’s appearance of most of the find were drawn up. Currently the original treasure is located in Berlin Museum.

Information about the artists

Julian Zapłatński, the creator of The Golden Treasure and another Guben’s sculpture (now defunct) Światowid, is a known Polish sculpturer artist from Wrocław, who lives in Kosarzyn.

Artwork review

The sculpture has a compact, free-standing figure in the aspect ratio of 1.5: 4. It is made of oak wood, impregnated with dark brown paint, attached to a three-part concrete base. By integrating the object into the park layout with the dominant feature of trees, the relationship between the sculpture and its surroundings is natural and unforced, prompting deeper attention to the space and the object itself.

Through indirect shading, it is only after a while that the emerging structure of the sculpture can be seen, showing Scythian figural motifs, which include deer, rams, pig, lion, lioness, falcon, fish, mermaid, and elements geometricizing the eyes, and some of the flutes of the base figure covered with scales. The sculpture should be viewed from the side of the pedestrian and bicycle path.