Ship Flag 1865

This anonymous ship flag commemorates the battle of Shimonoseki fought in Japan in 1864. The Dutch inscription tells us that it was flown by Dutch forces, who allied with the British, French and Americans in a campaign to open Japanese ports to foreign trade. Flags are powerful symbols: they signify territory and project authority. This flag creates meaning not only through its colors and symbols, but also through the very explicit inscription of a place and date. This visual shorthand condenses a complex political history into a single object, referencing a specific moment in the history of global trade and colonization. As art historians, we can investigate the flag through various sources, such as trade records, political documents, and military archives. The meaning of this flag is inseparable from the social and institutional contexts that shaped its creation and use.