Emperor Norton, the Phoenix and the Branding of San Francisco
Sometimes, you look at a thing a hundred times and still see something new on the 101st.
One of my favorite paintings of Emperor Norton is an oil portrait done in 1879 by Oscar Kunath (1830–1909).
The portrait is reproduced in a couple of places: in The Forgotten Characters of Old San Francisco, a book published in 1964 by the Ward Ritchie Press, and on the back cover of William Drury's 1986 biography, Norton I: Emperor of the United States.
Almost certainly, one of these is the source of the image of the Kunath painting that invariably appears on the San Francisco Chronicle website when the paper posts an Emperor-related story.
Here it is:
Emperor Norton, oil, 1879, by Oscar Kunath (1830–1909). The Emperor did not sit for this painting. Lithograph in the collection of the the Society of California Pioneers. Source: The Forgotten Characters of Old San Francisco (The Ward Richie Press, 1964).
The image above is a hi-res scan of the lo-res reproduction of the painting that appears in Forgotten Characters. It looks better here than it does in the book. Looking at the painting in either of the book reproductions or on the Chronicle website, one gets the mood — but, the details are a little blurry.
The Drury bio credits its image of the Kunath painting to the California Historical Society, while the Ward Ritchie book credits The Society Of California Pioneers.
Four years ago, in June 2016, I contacted both institutions, in the hope that one of them might actually have the original Kunath painting in its collection. Curiously, neither of them could find any record of it at all.
Then, a few weeks ago, the Pioneers posted to their Facebook page this image of their lithograph of the mystery painting.
Emperor Norton, oil, 1879, by Oscar Kunath (1830–1909). Lithograph in the collection of the the Society of California Pioneers. Source: Society of California Pioneers.
Typically, one can see that the feathers in the Emp's hat are being held in place by something — but, unless one knows what one is looking for, the shape is not distinctive of anything in particular.
In this "new" image of the Pioneers' lithograph, one can see clearly that the something is a bird.
But, is it an eagle? Or is it a phoenix?
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IN ILLUSTRATIONS and drawings of the last decade or so, it's not uncommon to see artists depicting Emperor Norton's hat pin as a phoenix.
But, the phoenix has been a well-known San Francisco emblem for century-and-a-half at this point. So, putting a phoenix in the Emperor's hat in 2010 or 2015 can seem to be a hipster affectation — as in this 2010 work by Michael Morgan:
"Emperor Norton I" (2010), by Michael D. Morgan. Originally exhibited at the 2010 Artcrank SF group show of bicycle-themed poster art. Limited edition print on view at Emperor Norton's Boozeland, San Francisco. © 2010 Michael D. Morgan.
Or this 2015 work by Jeremy Fish:
"Norton's Tattoos" (2015), by Jeremy Fish (b. 1974). Created for the show O Glorious City, on view at San Francisco City Hall from 4 November 2015 to 25 March 2016. © 2015 Jeremy Fish. Source: Jeremy Fish.
Or this 2016 work by Sam Flores:
Painting, 2016, by Sam Flores (b. 1975). This piece hangs in the restaurant Cockscomb, in San Francisco, which commissioned the work. © 2016 Sam Flores. Photograph: Peter Kazanjy
But, maybe the artists are on to something? Read on.
In 1879, when Oscar Kunath completed his portrait of Emperor Norton, the phoenix still was relatively new as a symbol of San Francisco. It originally had been placed on the official seal of the City of San Francisco in 1852.
Seal of the City of San Francisco, adopted 4 November 1852. Published in The Annals of San Francisco (1855), p. 816. Source: Making of America Books.
The current seal of the City and County of San Francisco was adopted in 1859, the year that Joshua Norton declared himself Emperor.
Seal of the City and County of San Francisco, adopted March 1, 1859. Published in San Francisco Municipal Reports: 1859–60, title page. Source: Hathi Trust.
Contemporaneous accounts of Emperor Norton noted that he kept his feathers pinned to his beaver hat with a “rosette.” That would seem to be a fair description of the feather apparatus in this photograph from the mid 1870s.
Detail of cabinet card photograph of Emperor Norton, mid 1870s. By Thomas Houseworth & Co. studio, 12 Montgomery Street, San Francisco. Collection of the California Historical Society. (Click on image for full photo.)
But, note the hat pin in this c.1875 photograph. A little bird-like, yes?
Detail of cabinet card photograph of Emperor Norton, c. 1875. By Bradley & Rulofson studio, San Francisco. Collection of the Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley. (Click on image for full photo.)
It appears that the Emperor is wearing the same hat pin in this photo from the early 1870s.
Detail of photograph of Emperor Norton, early 1870s. Published in Misha Berson’s book, The San Francisco Stage: From Golden Spike to Great Earthquake, 1869-1906 (San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum, 1992). The book credits the photo as being in the collection of the Museum, which now is called the Museum of Performing Arts & Design. (Click on image for full photo.)
The hat pin makes its earliest appearance in Eadweard Muybridge’s famous 1869 photograph of Emperor Norton on a velocipede.
Detail of photograph of Emperor Norton, early March 1869. By Eadweard Muybridge (1830–1904). Part of the Eadweard Muybridge photograph collection, 1868-1929, Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries. (Click on image for full photo.)
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I long have seen this pin as an American eagle of some sort. But, could it be a phoenix?
Of course, the Emperor would not have bought a hat-pin adornment like this for himself. More likely, it would have been a gift from an admirer(s). If so, then the fact that Emperor Norton is seen wearing the pin in several posed photographs suggests that it was a treasured possession — like his “Serpent Scepter” walking stick, a gift from subjects in Oregon — and that, like the walking stick, it was something that he frequently was seen “bearing” on his daily rounds.
Here’s a detail of an artwork from early 1874 — some five years before the Kunath painting — that appears to show the Emperor’s hatpin.
Detail of "The Three Prominent Men of San Francisco, Cal.", c.1874. By George Frederick Keller (1846–1927). Originally published in Thistleton’s Jolly Giant. Source: Portrait Collection, California Historical Society, PC-PT_00191. (Click on image for full illustration.)
The Union kepi (cap) the Emperor is wearing might provide a clue.
Look once again at the Emperor’s pin as it appears in the early 1870s photo of him (above).
Here’s a hat pin — properly called a hat “plate” — worn by U.S. Army soldiers between the 1820s and the 1860s.
1835 example of U.S. Army hat plate used between the 1820s and the 1860s. Learn more from: J. Duncan Campbell and Edgar M. Howell, American Military Insignia, 1800–1851, Smithsonian Institution, 1963 (Project Gutenberg link) and Edgar M. Howell, Unites States Army Headgear 1855–1902, Smithsonian Institution, 1975, pp. 22–28 (pdf). Image source: Pinterest via eBay.
A version of this plate is seen on this c.1830 U.S. Army bell crown cap — a style used by the Army between 1821 and 1832.
And on this U.S. Army light artillery cap from 1864.
It appears that this is the hat plate that Emperor Norton is wearing in the three photographs from 1869 to c.1875 — which makes it likely that the plate itself was a gift from the Presidio, which also provided the Emperor with used uniforms from time to time.
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Here comes the coolest part.
Although the “plate” the Emperor wears in his hats does not depict a “San Francisco phoenix,” there is a phoenix in the plate’s heraldic ancestry.
The connection here is the evolution of the Great Seal of the United States.
Most who are tuned in to this Seal know the current version, in which the eagle clutches 13 arrows.
But, the insignia in the 19th-century hat plates shown above — and barely visible in the plate Emperor Norton is wearing in the early 1870s photo above — shows an eagle clutching three arrows.
The eagle, the 13-striped shield and the three-arrow motif have their origins in an insignia depicted on the buttons George Washington wore on his Continental Army uniform in 1774–75
Button worn by George Washington on his Continental Army uniform in 1775. Some historians see this as the earliest artisan rendering of what became the Great Seal of United States in 1782. Source: Robert J. Silverstein
and depicted later on commemorative buttons made for Washington’s inauguration in 1789.
There is some deep, complex and fascinating research — extensively documented and illustrated here — showing how the bird, shield and arrows are from Scottish heraldry and contending that Washington purposely adopted this insignia to show his sympathy and solidarity with the Scottish cause of Charles Edward Stuart a.k.a. Bonnie Prince Charlie.
To bring us back to our central topic: The bird of Scottish heraldry — the one that George Washington wore and that is depicted on his inaugural buttons — is a phoenix.
It appears to have been a Scot who helped to change the phoenix to an eagle.
The Scottish engraver Robert Scot (1745–1823) arrived in Virginia in 1775; moved to Philadephia in 1781; and became the Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint in 1793, serving in this capacity until his death.
It is believed that, when Congress authorized the first Great Seal of the United States in 1782, it was Scot who engraved the Seal — and that he responded to the Congressional specification for an eagle by “massaging” a phoenix into something suitably eagle-like.
First die for the Great Seal of the United States, 1782. Believed to have been engraved by Robert Scot. Collection of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Source: Wikimedia
So, although Emperor Norton’s hat plate was an eagle, contemporary artists who make the plate a phoenix instead might be on better historical and symbolic footing than they imagine — even if they mean something very different by the symbol than George Washington did.
One can’t help but wonder whether there were those in Emperor Norton’s day who saw his hat plate not just as an eagle representing the U.S. Army but also as a phoenix — and thus as a branding device for the seat of his Empire.
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