Württemberg Campaign Medals, Paris 1814, Plate LXXXVIII, Wood Engraving, 1844

This is an original antique wood engraving, colored by hand with watercolor, showing Württemberg medals and a cross, numbered 9 to 13. At the top left (9) is a silver medal with lettering inside a laurel wreath, on a black ribbon with yellow stripes. At the top right (10) are a gold and a silver medal hung from one crimson ribbon. In the center (13) is a gold cross with a crowned initial in its center, on a ribbon striped black, brown and yellow. At the foot are a silver medal (11) on a crimson ribbon and a gold medal (12) on a dark ribbon, each with a crowned script initial over lettering in a laurel wreath.

The running head reads "WURTEMBERG" and the plate number "LXXXVIII." The German lettering has many miscut letters and is mostly given by its sense. Medal 9 reads for loyalty and merit, ending "und Berdienst" (B for V). The gold medal of 10 reads king and fatherland, ending "bem Tapfern" (to the brave); the silver one, with a crowned A, is for the victory of "1re Febe 1814" (1 February 1814). Medal 11 is for the victory of "25 Haȝ 1814" (25 March 1814), medal 12 for Paris, "Mörz" (March) 1814. Medals 11 and 12 and the cross (13) carry a crowned R. The cross reads "DER TAPFER KEIT UND TREUR" (to bravery and loyalty) and is dated 1815.

The plate comes from Ordres de Chevalerie et Marques d'Honneur (Orders of Chivalry and Marks of Honor), published by Auguste Wahlen and issued in Brussels in 1844 by the Librairie Historique-Artistique, rue de Schaerbeek, 12. 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 orders of Prussia, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Hanover, Greece, the Roman States, Saxe-Coburg and Brazil.

With its row of dated campaign medals the plate suits a collection on the Napoleonic Wars.

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