FILIPINO-AMERICAN WAR: GUERILLA FORCES FLAG.

SOLD TO BENEFIT THE ACQUISITION FUND OF THE FINE ARTS MUSEUMS OF SAN FRANCISCO. LOTS 3 TO 12.
FILIPINO-AMERICAN WAR: GUERILLA FORCES FLAG.
[Philippines; c. 1898-1902.]
A "countryside-made" Guerilla Forces National flag of the Philippines. 620 x 800 mm. The flag with a white painted cotton triangle to the hoist and decorated with a large 16 pointed red star, and 3 five point stars at each corner, each sewn back and front, with black and red horizontal bands, black over red, and over-sewn with a skull and cross-bones device in white painted cotton. Some wear and creasing to the flag, the white painted areas with rubbing of the surface, red cloth faded.
Provenance: Mrs William Trotter (gift to the de Young Museum); Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

A very rare Philippine local guerilla group flag. This a variation of the flag designed by Emilio Aguinaldo, when he was in exile in Hong Kong, 1897-98, and then adopted as the flag of the first Philippine Republic. This example varies from the original design, in that it has a 16-point central star (not 8), a black band instead of blue, and the addition of a local emblem in the form of a skull and cross-bones. However it was common for local guerilla groups to make up their own Battle flags to rally around, and to use in their fight against both the Spanish, and then the American occupying forces. This flag was likely recovered from a battlefield in the Philippines by an American soldier, possibly a Mr William Trotter, the husband of Mrs William Trotter, who gave the flag to the collector, de Young.