Item number: M489-7

Year: AD 1882-1902

Material: Silver and Enamel

Provenance: Cambi Auction 2025

This is a miniature version of the Order of Glory (Nichan al-Iftikhar), instituted by Tunisia during its period as a French protectorate, spanning from the nineteenth to the early twentieth century AD.

The obverse of the decoration features a silver ten-pointed star, with each arm filled with translucent red and green enamel arranged in an alternating translucent radial pattern. Nestled within the angles between the arms are three-dimensional, faceted, chiselled silver rays that scintillate under illumination, mimicking the brilliance of diamond facets. The central medallion is filled with green enamel, featuring the inscription ‘علي’ (Ali) executed in a faceted chiselled style, which denotes the name of Ali Bey III, who reigned from AD 1882 to 1902. This central element is encircled by an inner border adorned with a beaded pattern or faceted chiselling executed in a rose-cut diamond style. The top of the decoration is appended to a metal bow suspension structure with a faceted chiselled texture, designed for the attachment of its ribbon, which standardly features a pale olive green coloration flanked by two narrow red stripes on either side.

The phaleristic system of the state originated within the Husainid dynasty during the first half of the nineteenth century AD. Between AD 1835 and 1836, Mustafa Bey, emulating the administrative framework of the Ottoman Empire, formally introduced and established the Order of Glory. This decoration was initially designed as an oval insignia surmounted by a crescent and star, with the sovereign’s cipher ‘Mustafa’ encrusted in diamonds at its center, and was originally instituted as a single-class award. Its inaugural recipient was his diplomatic advisor and interpreter, Count Joseph Raffo. Upon the accession of his son, Ahmed Bey Pasha, the phaleristic system underwent profound transformations: the exterior morphology was altered from an oval configuration to a circular stellar design with alternating red and green enamelling, and the order was formally expanded and structured into four distinct classes, alongside the introduction of a Grand Cross grade accompanied by a green sash, a hierarchy heavily borrowed from the structural logic of the French Légion d’honneur. In the course of its evolution, the Order of Glory temporarily faced depreciation and fiscal strains due to the excessive conferrals by Ahmed Bey and the extravagant embellishment of rubies. His successor, Muhammad Bey, subsequently initiated a reorganization, reclaiming the gold, silver, and gem-set variants to replenish the state treasury, replacing them with solid silver decorations. It was not until the French protectorate era that Muhammad al-Sadiq Bey further codified and institutionalized the order through statutory regulations, directing that the statutory fees collected be exclusively earmarked for national relief and charitable enterprises. Furthermore, this system encompassed the Order of the Husainids (An-Nichan Al-Husayni), established around AD 1839, which held the pre-eminent status and was restricted to the Husainid royal house. This phaleristic framework gradually dismantled traditional barriers to admit women and foreign dignitaries, persisting until it was rendered obsolete following the abolition of the monarchy in AD 1957.

Although nineteenth-century Tunisia remained nominally a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, it exercised a high degree of autonomy under the governance of the Husainid dynasty and actively pursued Westernization and modernization of its state apparatus. During his tenure, Ahmed Bey vigorously implemented progressive reforms, organized a modern standing army, and founded the Bardo Military School; the restructuring and large-scale conferral of decorations served precisely as a political mechanism to construct a modern bureaucratic hierarchy and manifest sovereign legitimacy. However, this fervent aspiration to rival European powers was accompanied by severe fiscal profligacy, which progressively precipitated a sovereign debt crisis, culminating in the state’s capitulation to French protectorate status in AD 1881. Under the French protectorate, this system was repurposed into a subtle instrument of colonial governance and diplomatic rhetoric, wherein French Residents-General, colonial administrators, and the Tunisian Beylical court jointly participated in the vetting and investiture of the order, thereby transforming it into a nexus binding the indigenous North African elite with European diplomatic circles. Notably, at its inception, this nascent institution encountered resistance from devout domestic Islamic jurists (al-Fuqaha), who perceived it as an uncanonical innovation or heresy outside religious jurisprudence; this religious friction was only resolved after the pre-eminent religious scholars issued a formal legal opinion (Fatwa) permitting its usage.

物件編號: M381-3

年代: 公元 1882-1902 年

材質: 銀和琺瑯

來源: 坎比拍賣行 2025

這是一枚公元19世紀至20世紀初，作為法國保護國的突尼西亞頒布的「榮耀勳章」的迷你版。

勳章正面星芒為銀色十芒星，各臂以紅色與綠色透光琺瑯填充，呈放射狀交替排列。各臂之間的角隅間夾有三道立體的多面體鏨刻銀質射線，在光線下會閃爍類似鑽石切面的光芒。中央圓蓋部分填充綠色琺瑯，以多面體鏨刻的方式書寫銘文「علي」(Ali)，即公元1882至1902年執政的阿里·貝伊三世之名，外圈圍繞著一道連珠紋或多面體鏨刻呈碎鑽風格的圓環。勳章頂部連接有一個多面體鏨刻紋理的金屬蝴蝶結懸掛結構，用於串接其綬帶（標準綬帶為淡橄欖綠色，兩側各帶有兩條紅色細條紋）。

該國的徽章制度起源於十九世紀上半葉的海珊王朝。公元1835至1836年間，穆斯塔法貝伊（Mustafa Bey）效法奧斯曼帝國的體制，正式引入並打造了「榮耀勳章」（Nichan Al-Iftikhar）。這枚勳章最初設計為橢圓形、頂部飾有星月，中央以鑽石鑲嵌著君主名號「穆斯塔法」，且設立之初不分等第，首位獲頒者為其外交顧問兼口譯官約瑟夫·拉斐爾·拉夫伯爵（Count Joseph Raffo）。傳至其子阿哈邁德貝伊（Ahmed Bey）帕夏時，勳章制度迎來重大變革：外觀由橢圓形改為紅綠相間的圓形星芒款式，並正式將其擴展、劃分為四個等第，同時增設了配有綠色大綬帶的最高級別大綬章，這在很大程度上借鑒了法國榮譽軍團勳章的階層邏輯。在發展過程中，榮耀勳章曾一度因阿哈邁德貝伊的過度頒授與紅寶石的奢華裝飾而面臨貶值與財政壓力，隨後的繼任者穆罕默德貝伊（Muhammad Bey）遂展開整頓，收回金銀寶石款式充實國庫，改以純銀製獎章替代。直到法國保護國時代，穆罕默德·阿斯-薩迪克貝伊（Muhammadal-Sadiq Bey）將其進一步法規化與制度化，規費更被專款專用於國家救濟與慈善事業。此外，該體系中還包含創立於公元1839年前後、地位最高且專屬於海珊王室的「海珊勳章」（An-Nichan Al-Husayni），並逐漸打破傳統向女性及外國政要開放，直至公元1957年君主制廢除後才走入歷史。

十九世紀的突尼西亞在名義上雖仍是奧斯曼帝國的藩屬，但在海珊王朝的統治下已具備高度的獨立性，並積極尋求國家體制的「西化」與近代化轉型。阿哈邁德貝伊在位期間，大力推行新政、編練新式軍隊、創辦巴爾杜軍官學校（Bardo Military School），而勳章的重組與大規模頒發，正是其建立近代官僚層級與彰顯主權合法性的政治工具。然而，這種極力想與歐洲列強並駕齊驅的強國夢，卻伴隨著嚴重的財政揮霍，導致國家逐步陷入債務危機，最終在公元1881年淪為法國的保護國。在法國保護國時期，這套制度轉化為一種微妙的殖民治理與外交修辭工具——法國駐紮官、殖民官員與突尼西亞貝伊宮廷共同參與勳章的審核與頒授，使其成為聯結北非本土權貴與歐洲外交菁英的紐帶。值得注意的是，這一新興制度在引入之初，曾遭到突尼西亞國內虔敬伊斯蘭法學家（al-Fuqaha）的抵制，將其視為宗教律法外的「異端」，直到經由最高宗教學者出具教令（Fatwa）後才得以化解。