Discovering the New York State Flag – Part 1

by Maria Coffey

Gettysburg Flag Works is just a skip and a hop (over the Hudson River) from Albany, the capital city of the State of New York.  For that reason, just a month ago, we were called in to assist on a news story relating to one design element in the state flag.  The story goes, that some 5th grade students noticed a smiling face on the sun, and wanted to know if it was supposed to be there and what it meant.  In researching, we came across many more interesting elements than just the sun with its smiling face.

The New York state flag has the great seal of New York centered on a blue background, so the discussion is more about the great seal than it is about the state flag.

Our first installation towards the full discovery of the New York State flag will look at the elements of the charge.

Legal Description

New York State Consolidated Laws
Chapter 57, Article 6
Section 70. Description of the arms of the state and the state flag. The device of arms of this state, as adopted March sixteenth, seventeen hundred and seventy-eight, is hereby declared to be correctly described as follows:

Charge. Azure, in a landscape, the sun in fess, rising in splendor or, behind a range of three mountains, the middle one the highest; in base a ship and sloop under sail, passing and about to meet on a river, bordered below by a grassy shore fringed with shrubs, all proper.

Crest. On a wreath azure and or, an American eagle proper, rising to the dexter from a two-thirds of a globe terrestrial, showing the north Atlantic ocean with outlines of its shores.

Supporters. On a quasi compartment formed by the extension of the scroll. Dexter. The figure of Liberty proper, her hair disheveled and decorated with pearls, vested azure, sandaled gules, about the waist a cincture or, fringed gules, a mantle of the last depending from the shoulders behind to the feet, in the dexter hand a staff ensigned with a Phrygian cap or, the sinister arm embowed, the hand supporting the shield at the dexter chief point, a royal crown by her sinister foot dejected. Sinister. The figure of Justice proper, her hair disheveled and decorated with pearls, vested or, about the waist a cincture azure, fringed gules, sandaled and mantled as Liberty, bound about the eyes with a fillet proper, in the dexter hand a straight sword hilted or, erect, resting on the sinister chief point of the shield, the sinister arm embowed, holding before her her scales proper.

Motto. On a scroll below the shield argent, in sable, Excelsior.

State flag. The state flag is hereby declared to be blue, charged with the arms of the state in the colors as described in the blazon of this section.

The word charge has many definitions.  In this case it is “a figure borne on a heraldic field” by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.  This is the shield centered in the design.

Azure is the bright blue of the sky, described as the color of a clear blue sky.

The sun in fess, rising in splendor, behind a range of three mountains.  Fess is defined as the center point of an armorial escutcheon, meaning that it is the center detail.  The Sun in Splendour is a heraldic device or charge. It consists of a round disc representing the sun surrounded by numerous rays, usually wavy or alternating wavy and straight, and sometimes showing the features of a human face.  It is alternately known as the Sun in his Glory.  This is said to be a representation of the sun rising behind Mount Beacon over the Hudson River

This image of the sun with a smiling face is still used in other places as well.  Its use in the New York state seal may be related to it being found in the medieval sun badge of the House of York (the namesake of the state) and in the arms of Jonas Bronck (who’s family settled in what is now the Bronx).  It is also still in use in the flag of the Bronx.

in base a ship and sloop under sail, passing and about to meet on a river

The ship and sloop (a one-masted sailboat with a fore-and-aft mainsail and a jib.) are indicative of the types of boats one might see on the Hudson river at the time of design. New York City and ports north were a main lifeblood for the State of New York.

bordered below by a grassy shore fringed with shrubs, all proper. The natural shores of New York would have been of grass and shrubs.  North of New York City, across the Hudson River from Albany is even a town named “East Greenbush” for the native shrubs and trees visible from the capital city.  The phrase “all proper” describes the colors of the elements as being their natural or “proper” color.

Come back in the next few weeks to learn more about our beautiful New York state flag.