Order of the White Falcon, 1844, Paper

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This is an original antique wood engraving, colored by hand, showing insignia of the order of the white falcon of … Read more This is an original antique wood engraving, colored by hand, showing insignia of the order of the white falcon of saxe weimar. At top left is a silver star of feathered rays with a green cross, its blue center ring lettered in latin around a white falcon with spread wings on a gold ground. At top right is a lozenge-shaped silver star with the same falcon inside a lettered green ring. Below, at left, hangs the crowned badge on a red watered ribbon: a green cross with red between the arms, gold trefoil ends and a white falcon spread across the center. At right, also on red, is a white cross with a gold center showing a white falcon, with a blue reverse disc below bearing a crowned gothic monogram. At bottom left is a smaller white cross with green and gold, its oval blue center lettered, and at bottom right a collar section of gold gothic letters alternating with small gold falcons. The running head reads "saxe-weimar." and the plate number "lxxvii." the items are numbered 1 to 6. Star 1 is lettered "vigilando ascendimus." (by watchfulness we rise), star 2 "vigilando asoendimus." with a miscut letter, and the oval center of cross 4 carries the same motto in four lines, "vigi lando ascen dimus". 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. The insignia are set out with generous space on a cream ground, and the plate works well framed on its own or hung with other plates from the same book. Condition: light wear to the top left corner. Age toning, darker at the edges; handling soiling along the edges and scattered foxing in the margins. Printed image clean. This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed. See less