Orders of Portugal, Orders of Christ and Santiago, Plate LVII, 1844

This is an original antique wood engraving, colored by hand, showing insignia of two Portuguese orders. At the top, items 6 and 8 are silver breast stars with a flaming red heart bound with a green band and a cross above it, and a scalloped gold ring at the center: item 6 holds the red sword-shaped cross of Santiago, and item 8 the red cross of the Order of Christ with its inner white cross. In the middle, item 7 is the red sword cross hanging from a pale blue-gray ribbon. At the lower left, item 7 bis is the same cross on the same ribbon, hung beneath a small gold star with the flaming heart. At the lower right, item 9 is the cross of Christ on a red ribbon, also hung beneath a small gold star with the heart.

The running head reads "PORTUGAL." and the plate number "LVII." The pieces carry no inscriptions. They are numbered below in small figures, "6.", "8.", "7.", "7 bis." and "9.", continuing the numbering of the previous Portuguese plate.

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 contrast of the red crosses against the silver stars and the pale ribbons makes a crisp, graphic plate.

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