Fragment van een scheepsvlag met drie banen in de kleuren rood, zwart en rood en drie witte Andreaskruisen c. 1596

This is a fragment of a ship's flag featuring three bands of red, black, and red, along with three white Saint Andrew's crosses, made by an anonymous artist. Consider the Dutch Republic, a time of maritime power and global trade. Flags like these weren't just identifiers; they were symbols of power, commerce, and national identity. Yet, this tattered fragment evokes the human stories of exploration and exploitation, of merchants and mariners, of the colonizers and the colonized. The colors, once vibrant, now faded and torn, speak to the passage of time and the toll of historical forces. What narratives would this flag tell if it could speak? And who were the individuals who sailed under its banner, and what world did they create? It reminds us that history is not a neutral record, but a collection of perspectives, shaped by power, and marked by loss. Flags like this connected individuals to the state, and in turn to each other, for better or worse.