Hesse Darmstadt, Philip the Magnanimous Order, Plate XLIV, Wood Engraving, 1844

This original antique wood engraving, colored by hand, shows insignia of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. At upper left (6) is a breast star of silver and pale blue rays, its blue center showing a standing man in a brown cloak with a staff, within a gold-lettered ring. At upper right (8) is a pale blue cross with pearled edges and the same figure in a beaded gold oval. Lower left (7) is the badge: a white-enameled cross edged in gold, its oval center again showing the cloaked figure and lettered ring, on a red ribbon edged in blue; below it is the oval reverse with a crowned lion barred in red and white on blue. Lower right (9) is a bronze medal with a crowned L in a wreath above a short inscription, on a red ribbon striped in white.

The running head at upper left reads "HESSE GRAND-DUCALE." (Grand Ducal Hesse) and the plate number at upper right "XLIV."; the items are numbered 6 to 9. The ring of star 6 reads "SI DEUS NOBIS CUM-QUIS CONTRA NOS", Latin for "if God is with us, who is against us", the motto of the Order of Philip the Magnanimous, and the reverse of badge 7 reads "LUDOVICUS II. MAGN. DUX HASSIÆ INSTIT." (instituted by Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse). The medal 9 inscription includes the date "14 JUNI".

The plate comes from Ordres de Chevalerie et Marques d'Honneur, published by Auguste Wahlen in Brussels by the 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 the orders of Prussia, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Hanover, Greece, the Roman States, Saxe-Coburg and Brazil. The illustrations are relief prints, wood engravings colored by hand with watercolor.

The cloaked figure at the center gives the plate a quiet, almost portrait-like character.

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