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Drawings of the Norwegian Flag

Norwegian National Archives

See also:

At a page from the Norwegian National Archives with the caption: "Tegning av alle norske flagg gjennom tidene. Fra C. J. Anker: Tegninger af Norges flag. 1888"
I guess, that means it's from our [acj88]: Tegninger af Norges flag i dets forskjellige skikkelser gjennem tiden.

Section I is: Orlogsflaget
The State Ensign

Fig 1.: Danish split-flag - Norway as part of Denmark before 1814

Fig 2.: Norwegian flag of 1814, but with the Norwegian Lion looking towards the host, and drawn as 2:3.

image by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 26 March 2012

Fig 3.: Union Naval Ensign of 1815.
The blue in the image is indeed darker than standard blue, but it should be noted that the chart uses only a single shade of blue, which is the shade used for the Norwegian cross.

Fig 4.: Norwegian Naval Ensign of 1844.
To Anker, in 1888, this was the current flag.

Fig 5.: Norwegian Customs Ensign of ?
It's the 1821 design as an ensign, with a white heart box with a crown above the lower-case word "Told". probably both golden. The law of 1898 matches this design, though it didn't specify any colours for the charges. Compared to the current ensigns, though, both the spelling and case of the word are different. The crown is also drawn differently, in the style also used on the flag of the NFL, though larger. This flag was probably changed in 1844 as well, but would it have been adopted immediately in 1821, or at a later date? I cobbled a version together as a demonstration, but could someone make a real one?

image by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 26 March 2012

Fig 6.: Norwegian Customs Ensign of 1844?
The same design, but with the union mark in the canton. The heart box obscures the inner corner of the union mark. With the union mark, it should be from 1844 or later if immediately changed after the new design was introduced. Rather busy, this one. Frankenstein version:

image by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 26 March 2012

Fig 7.: Norwegian Postal Ensign of 1844?
The same design, but with "Post", rather than "Told". Anker doesn't illustrate a version of 1821 design, so apparently the ensign for postal service was more recent than the Customs Ensign. It could have been introduced at any time between 1844 and 1888. This too is rather busy. The law of 1898 specifies the 1821 design for the told flag, but dies agree on the spelling and the case. but again doesn't specify any colours for the charges. Frankenstein version:

image by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 26 March 2012

Wouldn't it be nice if we had a scan where we could actually read the text and see the charges?
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 26 March 2012

Fig 8.: Norwegian Royal Union Royal Flag (1844-1905)
Apparently, the arms show less of the mantle above the shield in Anker's image, compared to ours, making it harder to recognise. This is probably related to our arms being a relatively modern interpretation.I still haven't figured what the caption says, but this is at least a source for the Norwegian version of this flag. Largest difference is that Anker draws the fly much longer. It may be that this is artistic license, to make it more important, but it's easily 4:9.

Fig. 9: Commander in Chief - Navy (1875-1905)
Pretty much as we have it.

Fig. 10: Commander of a Detachment (1858)

Fig. 11: ?
A 2:3 three-striped flag, white before red. For the colours it might have a Danish connection, or have a pilot related meaning. I just don't know.
(Yes, it's like the Western Pomeranian voivodship flag, but I don't see the connection.)

image by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 27 March 2012

Fig. 12: Pilot Jack
A 4:5 version with the shades that Anker uses throughout the chart. At this page Klaus-Michael Schneider states that the border is wider for the Swedish version than for the Norwegian version. This might have something to do with the different shape of the herring salad, which in turn stems from the different ratios of the crosses in the flags. Unfortunately, he doesn't give measurements, and his source isn't quoted, so I don't know the exact difference. I expect, however, that a real flag would also differ in colour, depending on its nation, as apparently only one shade of blue would be used, which would depend on the national colours.

image by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 27 March 2012

Note: Michael's image of the Norwegian pilot jack, but to be on the safe side, for removing the dithering in his image, I used the shades from an image on the same page: Zelkjo's Union Jack. I wonder, though, whether the same issues of colour and ratio would have been valid for that as well. I'm not even sure whether we should show both versions on this page, or should just mention the general specification here and link to two national pages for the actual jacks. Hm, sometimes the file-names make me really curious about how they came to be.

Fig. 13: Union Jack
Also in 4:5, and using the same shades. There's a caption of one and a half line under it, but it's not large enough to read.

Well, that's all in section 1. Does anyone have any idea about fig. 11?
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 27 March 2012