"The Banners That Stood For Civilization at the Dawn of the 20th Century".
This cotton textile is a patriotic banner from 1900 entitled, "The Banners that Stood for Civilization at the Damn of the 20th Century". The banner commemorates the Eight Nation Alliance, an alliance of Western nations which defended the foreign legations in Peking during the siege of the city by the Chinese Boxers in 1900. There are a number of other events depicted on the textile, including the Canadian participation in the Boer War and the US suppression of the Philippine Insurrection. These scenes are flanked by the Stars and Stripes and the British Red Ensign which are surmounted by a cartouche of Edward VII.

The above events depicted on the banner were chosen because the print was intended for sale to imperialist and expansionist supporters in the Canada, the United States and Great Britain. The banner illustrates these nations as the bulwark of civilization against those forces opposing it in 1900 - the Chinese Boxers, the Afrikaners and the Insurrectos of in the Philippines, all of whom were fighting for the freedom of self-government. Banners such as this one were popular in the early 1900s as a way to both shore up public opinion about these overseas adventures and endorse official government decisions to involve these nations in foreign wars far from home.

This textile was formerly part of the Boleslaw Mastai Collection, and bears his stamp on the reverse.

Provenance:Acquired at auction from Early American, Rancho Santa Fe, CA, 2005, from consignor who acquired it by purchase from the Mastai Collection.

ZFC Significant Flag

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