Baden and Great Britain, Order of British India, Plate LXXXIX, 1844

This is an original antique wood engraving, colored by hand with watercolor, showing a star of Baden and four British Indian decorations. At the top left (1) is a silver star of feathered rays with green-enameled cross arms and scrollwork between them; its center shows a ruined castle tower on a green hill within a lettered ring. At the top right (2) is a gold star of rays with a laurel wreath around a blue center bearing a gold lion standing to the left, with a crown and suspension ring above. The same badge, without the crown, is repeated in the center (3). At the foot are two eight-pointed stars, one silver (5) and one gold (4), each with a blue center showing crossed sabers inside a lettered band and a gold laurel wreath.

The running head reads "BADE." (Baden) and "GRANDE-BRETAGNE." (Great Britain), and the plate number "LXXXIX." The star (1) is lettered "FUR EHRE UND WAHRHEIT" (for honor and truth), the motto of the Order of the Zähringer Lion of Baden, with the ruined castle of Zähringen at its center. The two lion badges (2 and 3) are lettered "ORDER OF BRITISH INDIA", and the two stars at the foot (4 and 5) "REWARD OF VALOR", in English as printed. The pieces are numbered 1 to 5.

The plate comes from Ordres de Chevalerie et Marques d'Honneur (Orders of Chivalry and Marks of Honor), published by Auguste Wahlen and issued in Brussels in 1844 by the Librairie Historique-Artistique, rue de Schaerbeek, 12. Its half title reads Histoire, costumes, décorations de tous les ordres de chevalerie, et marques d'honneur. Auguste Wahlen was the pen name of the Belgian writer Jean-François-Nicolas Loumyer (1801 to 1875), and the title page lists his own knighthoods in orders of Prussia, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Hanover, Greece, the Roman States, Saxe-Coburg and Brazil.

The blue centers and gold rays make this one of the brighter plates in the series to frame.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.