Knight of the Golden Fleece, Philip the Good, Hand Colored Wood Engraving, 1844

An original antique wood engraving, colored by hand with watercolor, showing Philip the Good standing full length in the costume of a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece. He is dressed in red throughout: a red hat wound like a turban, with a small gold jewel at the front and a long hood end falling at the left; a high collared red gown falling in deep folds to the floor; and a wide red mantle lined in white and edged with a gold scalloped border, gathered over the arm. Around his neck is a gold collar with a pendant hanging at the front. His hand at the left rests at his hip in the folds of the mantle, and the hand at the right holds a pair of pale gloves. He stands on a buff colored ground against a band of gray hatching.

Below the image the plate is captioned "COSTUME DE CHEVALIER DE L'ORDRE DE LA TOISON D'OR." (Costume of a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece), with a second line in smaller letters, "(Philippe le Bon, créateur de l'ordre.)" (Philip the Good, founder of the order). The plate carries no plate number and no signatures.

The plate comes from Ordres de Chevalerie et Marques d'Honneur, published in Brussels in 1844 by the Librairie Historique-Artistique, rue de Schaerbeek, 12, with the title page reading "publié par Auguste Wahlen"; the half title is 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 single figure in deep red on pale paper reads well from a distance and suits a plain frame.

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