Orders of Prussia, Pour le Mérite Cross and 1813 1814 Medals, Plate LXII, 1844

This is an original antique wood engraving, colored by hand, showing decorations of Prussia. At upper left a black cross edged in gold, with a blue center bearing a script monogram, hangs from a white ribbon with black stripes. At upper right a blue Maltese cross edged in gold, with gold eagles between its arms and a crowned initial on the upper arm, hangs from a black and white ribbon. In the center is a jeweled collar of linked bars, a pink oval stone and a pale blue trefoil, from which hang an oval sunburst with the Virgin and Child and a pendant with a white swan on a gold disc, its folded gold ribbon ending in tassels. At the foot are two medals on black and white ribbons, one an oval of dark iron, the other a round medal in bronze, each with a cross, rays and a wreath.

The running head reads "PRUSSE." and the plate number "LXII." The items are numbered 14 to 18. The arms of the blue cross, item 15, are lettered in script "Pour", "le Mé" and "rite" (French, for merit), with a crowned F on the upper arm. The medals, items 17 and 18, are each dated "1813" over "1814" within an oak wreath.

The plate comes from Ordres de Chevalerie et Marques d'Honneur, published by Auguste Wahlen at Brussels by the 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 illustrations are relief prints, wood engravings, colored by hand with watercolor.

The jeweled swan collar in the center gives the sheet an unusual and decorative focal point.

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