Dutch Medals, War in Java and Citadel of Antwerp, Plate LIV, 1844

This is an original antique wood engraving, colored by hand, showing Dutch medals and crosses. At the upper left, item 10 shows both faces of an octagonal bronze medal on an orange ribbon: an inscription in a wreath and a portrait head in profile. Below it, item 11 shows a bronze medal with a crowned shield bearing a lion, set before flags, a cannon and drums, and a silver face with a crowned mantle around a script W, also on an orange ribbon. At the lower left, item 12 shows both faces of a bronze medal on a blue ribbon: the star-shaped plan of a fortress with lettering inside it, and a crowned W with a date inside a laurel wreath. On the right, item 14 is a bronze cross with a crowned W in a wreath on a green and orange striped ribbon, and item 13 a bronze cross with dates in a wreath on a blue and orange striped ribbon.

The running head reads "PAYS-BAS." and the plate number "LIV." Item 10 reads "OORLOG OP JAVA 1825 1830" (war in Java) and, around the portrait, "WILHEM I KONING" with the rest of the legend naming him king of the Netherlands. Item 11 reads "VOOR TROUWEN DIENST" (for loyal service), signed "ESCHOUBERG. F" below. Item 12 reads "CITADEL VAN ANTWERPEN" (Citadel of Antwerp) and "DECEMBER 1832". Item 13 reads "TROUW AAN VADERLAND KONING" (loyal to fatherland, king) with "1830 1831", and item 14 "VRIJWILLIG" (voluntary).

The plate comes from Ordres de Chevalerie et Marques d'Honneur, published by Auguste Wahlen at Brussels, Librairie Historique-Artistique, rue de Schaerbeek, 12, in 1844; the 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 plates are relief prints, wood engravings colored by hand with watercolor.

With its dated campaign medals, the plate is a good match for a collection on Dutch or Belgian history of the 1830s.

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