Orders of Oldenburg, House and Merit Order of Duke Peter, Plate L, 1844

This is an original antique wood engraving, colored by hand, showing insignia of Oldenburg. At the upper left, item 1 is a silver breast star of many feathered rays with a red ring around a blue center bearing a crowned script monogram. At the upper right, item 7 is a silver medal with a crowned script initial on a blue ribbon with red stripes. In the middle, items 5-6 are a white medallion with a crowned mantle and arms inside a green wreath, and items 3-4 a crowned green-wreathed badge with the red ring and blue monogram center. At the lower left, item 2 is a crowned gold cross with white arms lettered with dates, the arms under a crowned mantle at the center, on a blue ribbon with red stripes, with the round reverse medallion drawn below. At the lower right, item 8 is a gold cross with a crowned monogram on a red ribbon edged in blue.

The running head reads "OLDENBOURG." and the plate number "L." The red ring of the star, and in part those of items 3-4 and of the reverse of item 2, carries the motto "EIN GOTT EIN RECHT·EINE WAHRHEIT" (one God, one law, one truth), the motto of the House and Merit Order of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig. The arms of the cross, item 2, read "17 Jan 1755", "6 Jul:1785", "21 Mai 1829" and "27 Nov 1838".

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.

The clear red, blue and gold frame well on their own.

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