Hi,
I'm searching for some good pictures of the awards of the "Order of the Crown of Westphalia".
I searched a lot and so far found some pictures of the Chevalier awards(1st & 2nd class) as well as the Grand Commandeur awards, but I still lack a pic of the Commandeur award and I'm unsure how it really looked because the real difference besides the size only seems to be the ribbon that was obviously different because of the way the various awards were worn.
But I'm also interested in any additional information about it, so if you have anything please let me know.
With regards
Hello Christian,
as you have already assumed, the individual order classes differed both in the size of the order and in the material.
Order of "Grand Commander"
7, 5 cm x 3, 7 cm, gold and enamel
worn with a gold medal chain or a 4 cm wide blue shoulder sash and the breast star
"Commander"
6.5 cm x 3.2 cm , gold and enamel
worn on a blue 3 cm wide collar
"Knight 1st Class"
5.5 cm x 2.6 cm , gold and enamel
worn on a blue 2 cm wide ribbon in the buttonhole
"Knight 2nd class"
5.5 cm x 2.6 cm, silver and enamel
worn on a blue 2 cm wide ribbon in the buttonhole
My source is: Karsten Klingbeil, Orden 1700-2000, Bd. 4, Kirchheim unter Teck 2013, S. 40.
Incidentally, Napoleon rejected Jérôme's first design for the order. It was to be called the "Order of the Blue Eagle". The order design rejected by Napoleon can be viewed here. Only very few pieces were produced:
https://www.dorotheum.com/it/l/7389343/
Have you already looked for portraits? Here are two examples of commandeurs of the order, one a military, the other one a civilian:
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Antoine_Morio_de_Marienborn#
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Maximilian_Rabe_von_Pappenheim