A Tyrolean banner from the de Young collection.
This Tyrolean banner was formerly part of the collection of the M.H. de Young Museum. Founded in 1895 in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the de Young Museum was the city's first museum. It was a great success from its very opening and has become an integral part of the cultural fabric of the city and a cherished destination for millions of residents and visitors to the region for over 100 years.

Michael Henry de Young, 1849 -1925, was an American journalist and businessman who owned and published the San Francisco Chronicle. He used his wealth to further his eclectic tastes and accumulated a collection of immense variety, which included diverse objects such as sculptures, paintings, flags, paintings, and objet d'art. As San Francisco's premier repository the de Young Museum came to house a number of flags; but the exact use and history of this flag is not known.

As early as 1205 an eagle is known to have been used by the dukes of Tyrol (in Austria) on their seals and an illustration from 1368 proves that the color of the eagle was red. Other elements of the design were added later. For example, the crown on the eagle's head was first featured in a seal belonging to Duke Frederick of the Empty Pockets. The green wreath around the eagle's head dates from 1532. The eagle was probably favored as a symbol because of its use by the Holy Roman Emperors.

Before 1921, several different colors were associated with Tyrol. The most common combinations were green and white stripes or red and white stripes. Since 1921 the official version of the flag has two stripes, white over red, with the eagle in the center. A careful technical examination of the flag might be able to determine whether the outer flag stripes were originally green or red. This particular flag was probably intended to be hung in a meeting hall or from a balcony, since the eagle is properly displayed when the stripes are vertical rather than horizontal. The vertical orientation is confirmed by the way in which the fringe has been attached.

The companion pole for this banner is ZFC1487.

ZFC Significant Flag
Item is Framed

Provenance:
• Acquired by Michael Henry de Young in Europe.
• Conveyed to de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA.
• Sold via Butterfield & Butterfield Auctions in San Francisco, CA, to the Zaricor Flag Collection, 1997.


Sources:


History of the de Young Museum, de Young, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 16 November 2011: http://deyoung.famsf.org/about/history-de-young-museum

Tyrol (state), Wikipedia, 16 November 2011, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrol_%28state%29

Tirol (Austria), Flags of the World, 16 November 2011, from: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/at-ti.html

Frederick IV, Duke of Further Austria, Wikipedia, 16 November 2011, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_IV,_Duke_of_Austria

Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection