Orders of Anhalt, Albert the Bear Insignia, Plate I, Wood Engraving, 1844

An original antique wood engraving, colored by hand with watercolor, showing five insignia of Anhalt, two of them lettered with the name of Albert the Bear. At the top is a silver rayed star (1) with a green ring of lettering around a white center, where a crowned brown bear walks along a red crenelated brick wall with a gold gateway. Below at the left is a gold oval badge (2) hung from a red and green striped ribbon, with a checkered shield at the top of its pierced frame and a crowned bear on a wall in the opening. At the right is a smaller oval badge of the same kind (3), with a shield of arms showing an eagle beside bars at the top. At the foot two medals hang from a single red and green ribbon tied in a large bow: a gold medal (4) with the crowned bear on its wall, and a silver medal (5) with a crowned shield of arms showing an eagle beside bars.

The plate is headed "ANHALT." at the upper left and numbered "I." at the upper right, and the pieces are numbered 1 to 5. The star (1) and the gold medal (4) carry the German legend "FUERCHTE GOTT UND BEFOLGE SEINE BEFEHLE" (Fear God and obey His commandments); the oval badge (3) carries the same words with the letters run together. The oval badge (2) and the silver medal (5) are lettered "ALBRECHT DER BAER REG: 1123 BIS 1170" (Albert the Bear, reigned 1123 to 1170).

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 red and green ribbons and gold metalwork give the plate strong color.

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