Allegorical Sculpture „Temperance”

The female figure, with slender body proportions, stands on her right leg, with her left leg bent at the knee and extended to the side. The woman is dressed in a long, tight gown with short sleeves and a long, voluminous cloak that has slipped off her shoulders, covering her entire figure. Her head is tilted to the right, with hair styled back and strands falling onto her neck.

The figure holds a jug in her raised right hand, pouring water into a cup of wine held in her left hand. Her feet are bare in sandals. The figure is set on a circular, convex base. The sculpture was originally positioned as the seventh from the right of the entrance, by the pilaster of the baptismal font enclosure.

The baptismal font was funded by the Council of St. Mary’s Church and made in the Netherlands between 1554–56. It was transported by ship to Gdańsk in 1557. In 1943–44, it was evacuated to the village of Żuławki near Gdańsk. In the post–war years, the sculptures were secured and stored in the National Museum in Warsaw. They returned to St. Mary’s Basilica in 1981.