Wilhelm 1

Woven on silk:-

Printed at bottom of card-mount:-
WILHELM 1. 

 

Card-mount:
19.5cm deep by 15.0cm wide

silk:
10.3cm deep by 6.1cm wide

by Austin Sprake:
 

by Geoffrey Godden:
William (or Wilhelm) I, King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany, was born in Berlin on 22 March 1797.
He served in the Prussian army and received the Iron Cross, for bravery, in 1815.
In 1840 he became Prince of Prussia; and in January 1861 he succeeded his brother William IV.
He was declared Emperor of Germany in January 1871 and, as such, opened the first imperial parliament of a united Germany in March 1871. He died in Berlin on 9 March 1888.

The title WILHELM OF GERMANY was first listed on label 23+34b (with his successor Wilhelm II) and one would assume that examples of this silk must have been mainly intended for the German market.

The title is given on the Franz Drahne German back-label with the bracketed note 'deceased'.
An example with the woven title KAISER WILHELM I is shown [in Godden's book], reproduced from the Stevens presentation volume.

Another portrait, that shown in so564 also depict Wilhelm I but at a younger age.

Other comments:
Stevens silk portraits were also mounted in other card mounts, of which this is a typical example:
 
 

 
printed on card:  Carl Erdmann, Kunst-Verlag, Crefeld.