The embroidered diplomacy:the symbolism of banners used in the inauguration ceremony of the Illirian-Rascian regiment in 1735

Abstract

Apart from more common forms of state aggrandisement, such as official portraiture, grand allegorical compositions and public monuments, ephemeral spectacles have played an important role in the formation of the state’s public image. This article will examine the political imagery created for an unusual patron, and used for an equally seldom discussed function. The objects of this discussion will be the emblematic decoration of banners, created as the main artefacts in a political spectacle devised by Vikentije Jovanovic (1731-1734), the Orthodox archbishop of Karlovci. The spectacle in question was the inauguration ceremony of the Illirian-Rascian regiment he founded in 1735.