Saxony Ernestine Line, Saxe Ernestine House Order, Plate LXXV, 1844

This is an original antique wood engraving, colored by hand, showing insignia of the Saxe Ernestine House Order. At top left is a breast star: a white cross with gold ball tips over silver rays and gold flames, its blue center ring lettered in Latin around a gold crown. At top right is a white cross with gold edges and ball tips, its center the same lettered blue ring and crown within a green wreath. In the middle are three small white pieces shaped like notched cross arms with ball tips, each with a gold Gothic initial. At lower left the crowned badge hangs on a crimson ribbon with green edges: a white cross with gold lions between the arms and a gold initial above the center, the center showing a head in profile within a lettered blue ring and green wreath, with a reverse disc below showing the Saxon arms. At lower right is a silver medal on the same ribbon showing the crowned cross of the order, lettered around the rim.

The running head reads "SAXE, BRANCHE ERNESTINE." (Saxony, Ernestine branch) and the plate number "LXXV." The items are numbered 1 to 5. Stars 1 and 2 and medal 5 carry the motto "FIDELITER ET CONSTANTER" (faithfully and steadfastly), and the ring of badge 3 a miscut form of it. Badge 3's reverse disc is dated 25 December 1833. The three pieces at 4 carry Gothic initials, the first B and the last F.

The plate comes from Ordres de Chevalerie et Marques d'Honneur, published by Auguste Wahlen in Brussels by the Librairie Historique-Artistique, rue de Schaerbeek, 12, in 1844; its 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 the 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.

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