Boxer Rebellion | A flag honoring the Allied Forces in the Boxer Rebellion

The Passion of American Collectors: Property of Barbara and Ira Lipman

Boxer Rebellion

A hand-embroidered blue silk flag commemorating Allied Forces in China 1901–1903

Hand-embroidered blue silk flag backed by linen (660 x 535 mm), ca. 1903. The flag commemorates the alliance that suppressed the Boxer Rebellion in China and honors the Sherwood Foresters (Derbyshire) regiment of British infantry: embroidered title at top "Allied Forces in China" with the dates "1901, 1902, 1903" stitched across the bottom; the members of the alliance are represented by their national flags, with a central Union Jack design surrounded by flags of the United States, Italy, Germany, Russia, Japan, Austria-Hungary, and France, as well as a flag of the Qing Dynasty; centered at the top is the insignia of the "Sherwood Foresters, Derbyshire," a crowned Maltese Cross with a white stag, The Union Jack, and the flags of the Red Ensign of the British Merchant Navy and the Royal Navy Ensign; below the flags is a British battleship flying these United Kingdom flags; each corner of the flag is embroidered with pink rosette; worn with losses, chiefly marginal, marginal tack-holes where previously framed. Housed in a half blue morocco slipcase and chemise. 

A unique survival of British service in China during the Boxer Rebellion, a proto-nationalist uprising in China that was crushed by the Eight Nation Alliance. Only a part of the Sherwood Foresters served in China; most of the regiment was engaged in the Boer War.