Clothing at the Seventeenth-Century Private Magnate Court

The study aims to examine the specificity of materials procured for a magnate court in the late 17th century, focusing on their purpose, purchase costs, and relative popularity. The research draws on extensive property registers and expense accounts from the treasury of Józef Karol Lubomirski (d. 1702), Grand Marshal of the Crown, and his wife, Teofila Ludwika née Zasławski- Ostrogski, later Wiśniowiecka (d. 1709). The analysis of these sources enabled and the identification and categorization of goods purchased specifically for the property owners and those acquired for court servants. Additionally, the study evaluates the costs associated with procuring materials for clothing production, assessing the relationship between price, quality and usage. The article also explores how clothing functioned as a tool for enhancing prestige withing the magnate court’s broader policies of representation in the eighteenth century.