Orders of Baden, Zähringer Lion and Medals, Plate VIII, Wood Engraving, 1844

An original antique wood engraving, colored by hand with watercolor, showing six insignia of Baden. At the top is a silver rayed star (8) with a white ring of gold lettering around a red center holding a gold lion rampant, with a green laurel spray below. In the middle row are a gold cross (10) with a crowned monogram L at its center, on a red ribbon with white edges; a small gold oak leaf ornament (13) with a crowned L; and a badge (9) on a green ribbon with yellow stripes, a pale green cross with gold borders over gold openwork scrolls, its center showing a ruined tower. At the foot are a gold medal (11) lettered within a laurel wreath and a silver medal (12) showing a crowned griffin holding a shield, both on yellow and red ribbons.

The plate is headed "BADE." (Baden) at the upper left and numbered "VIII." at the upper right, with items numbered 8 to 13. The star (8) is lettered "FUR EHRE UND WAHRHEIT." (For honor and truth), the motto of the Order of the Zähringer Lion. The gold medal (11) reads "DEM TAPFERN" (To the brave), and the silver medal (12) "FUR BADENS EHRE" (For Baden's honor).

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 star at the head of the plate and the yellow and red ribbons below make a clear, well spaced arrangement.

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