Belgian Medals, Independence of 1830 and Leopold Medals, Plate XV, 1844

This is an original antique wood engraving, colored by hand, showing Belgian medals and a decoration. At the top are both faces of an octagonal gray medal (9): one shows a lion standing on a pedestal among flags, the other the date 1830 at the center of a ring of nine shields. Below on the left a black cross edged in gold with a gold lion in its center (7) hangs from a red ribbon edged in black and yellow, with a small gold disk (8) dated 1830. At the center right two medals hang from one black ribbon edged in yellow and red: a gold medal (11) with the laureate head of King Leopold I and three stars, and a silver medal (12) with a wreath in a lettered ring. At the foot are the two faces of a gold medal (10), one with Leopold's head, the other with a cow standing beside a lancet.

The running head reads "BELGIQUE." (Belgium) and the plate number "XV.". The pieces are numbered 7 to 12. Medal 9 reads "AUX DEFENSEURS DE LA PATRIE" (to the defenders of the fatherland) and "INDEPENDANCE DE LA BELGIQUE" (independence of Belgium). Medals 10 and 11 read "LEOPOLD PREMIER ROI DES BELGES" (Leopold the First, King of the Belgians); medal 12 reads "DEVOUEMENT COURAGE HUMANITE" and "RECOMPENSE PUBLIQUE" (devotion, courage, humanity; public reward); and the reverse of 10 reads "PROPAGATION DE LA VACCINE." (spread of vaccination).

The plate comes from Ordres de Chevalerie et Marques d'Honneur, published by Auguste Wahlen and issued in Brussels by the Librairie Historique-Artistique, rue de Schaerbeek, 12, in 1844. Auguste Wahlen was the pen name of the Belgian writer Jean-François-Nicolas Loumyer (1801 to 1875), whose title page lists his own knighthoods in orders of Prussia, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Hanover, Greece, the Roman States, Saxe-Coburg and Brazil.

The Belgian colors in the ribbons and the cow on the vaccination medal give the plate unusual subjects for a framed group.

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