Orders of Parma, Constantinian Order of Saint George, Plate LI, 1844

This is an original antique wood engraving, colored by hand, showing the insignia of the Constantinian Order of Saint George as given under Parma. Items 1, 2 and 6 are red crosses with flared, pointed ends edged in gold, each crossed by a gold saltire that forms the Greek letter Chi, with a P on the upper arm; item 1 is set on silver rays. Item 3, at the lower left, is the cross hung from a crown on a blue ribbon, with a gold figure of Saint George on horseback spearing the dragon below it. In the center, item 5 is a section of collar: the red cross inside a gold laurel wreath with the Saint George pendant, joined by gold rosettes to smaller red crosses with blue centers bearing the Chi Rho monogram. At the lower right, item 4 is the cross under a crown on a blue ribbon.

The running head reads "PARME." and the plate number "LI." The upright of the crosses is lettered I, P, I and S from top to bottom; the crossbar carries an Alpha and an Omega either side of the center, an H at the right end and a letter drawn on its side at the left end, and the gold saltire and the P together make the Chi Rho monogram. Items are numbered below in small figures.

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 repeated red crosses and the gold Saint George give the plate a strong, almost heraldic pattern that reads well from across a room.

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