This article discusses three heraldic tiles depicting the arms of Starykoń (Antiquus Caballus). Two of them come from Wawel Castle in Krakow, the most important castle in Poland during the Renaissance, which served as a royal residence. The third was discovered during recent excavations at the royal castle in Ojców (about 20 km north of Wawel). All of these tiles were made of ferrous clay tempered with coarse sand (grain size approx. 3 mm) and fired using an oxidising process. Their fractures are monochrome, brick-red. All samples show traces of glazing on the outside: the Wawel monuments were covered with a red-brown glaze, while the Ojców tile was decorated with a yellow-olive glaze. According to stylistic considerations, i.e. the co-occurrence of features characteristic of late Gothic and early Renaissance art, these finds should be dated to the 1st quarter of the 16th century.

It should be pointed out that these tiles are characterized by an almost striking resemblance to each other, which makes one wonder whether they could have been made using the same matrix and in the same workshop. Such questions seem legitimate, not least because of the short distance between the two castles and because of the common fragments of their history in the 16th century. An attempt to answer both questions, together with a detailed description of the tiles, is the aim of this study.

A detailed comparative analysis, a laboratory study of the chemical composition and a cluster analysis of the preserved tile fragments were the tools used to achieve this aim.

In the light of the comparative analysis and the detailed measurements, it must be assumed that these pieces were probably made from the same matrix, but that they were probably not fired in a single firing. This is evidenced by the different colours of the glaze and the different way in which the inner parts of the tile faces were worked – while the Wawel specimens were pressed into the mould with a material whose weaving traces are visible on the inside, the Ojców specimen had the excess ceramic mass collected with a small, probably wooden, slat. The other characteristics of the analyzed specimens should be considered as identical. This also applies to the chemical composition and the cluster analysis.

The coat of arms of Starykoń, used by one of the most important families of the Polish Middle Ages and early modern times, the Szafraniec family from Pieskowa Skała, is known from a number of sphragistic and iconographic representations. These sources are an excellent proof of the great importance of this family, which is known from historical sources. In the 15th and 16th centuries there was no lack of important personalities, such as the trusted supporters of King Władysław Jagiełło – the royal chamberlain Piotr (2) Szafraniec († 1437) and Jan Szafraniec († 1433), who held the office of royal chancellor. While we cannot rule out the possibility that the memory of these eminent Szafraniecs influenced the production of tiles with the Starykoń coat-of-arms in the first quarter of the 16th century, we would like to draw attention to a later representative of the above-mentioned family, Hieronimus (c. 1502 – c. 1557), a well-educated humanist and favourite of the king, to whom King Sigismund the Old married his natural daughter Regina, daughter of Katarzyna Telniczanka, at Wawel Castle in 1518. It is difficult to say whether the Wawel tiles with the Starykoń are directly related to Hieronim Szafraniec, but it is highly probable.

It cannot be excluded that the Starykoń tile found in Ojców reflects the ownership of Ojców Castle, directly connected with the entourage of Sigismund the Old. In the years 1515-1523 and 1523-1525 Ojców Castle was successively managed by the trusted royal bankers Jan and Seweryn Boner, while later (1525–1536) it was in the hands of one of the most important people in the monarch’s entourage, the royal chamberlain Andrzej Tęczyński. Between 1536 and 1556 it was administered by Queen Bona Sforza. We can therefore conclude that it was probably on the initiative of one of the aforementioned persons that a stove with the Starykoń coat of arms was built in Ojców, possibly made from surplus tiles produced for heating the Wawel chambers.

In conclusion, the results of our research indicate that the analyzed tiles most likely belong to the same matrix, but most probably they were not produced during the same firing. On the other hand, in the absence of other indications, it is not possible to determine whether they were made in the same workshop or in different ones.

Finally, it should be noted that the production and distribution of stove tiles is still a poorly understood subject and is therefore rarely discussed in the literature. The reason for this is the scarcity of confirmed occurrences of tiles made with the same matrices at different archaeological sites. The objects described in this text are therefore undoubtedly an addition to the scarce resources available to date.