Content note: Period cartoon showing a Chinese figure with a queue and religious figures; depicts the Boxer-era conflict. This object is shown as it was published. Why
'Are our teachings, then, in vain?' (Keppler, Puck, 3 October 1900)
A centrefold chromolithograph shows Confucius and Christ in the clouds clasping hands, a halo about Christ's head, above a dark ground where two men with banners stand among the flags of several powers. The tell is the borrowed authority: two religious founders are placed over a conflict as witnesses, so the question in the title does the arguing.
- Date
- October 3, 1900
- Period
- Pre-1914
- Made by
- Puck magazine (Keppler & Schwarzmann); artist Udo J. Keppler
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- Media
- Regime
- Mckinley Administration
- Leader
- William Mckinley
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- Religion, Empire and colonialism
- Event
- Boxer Rebellion
- Techniques
- Transfer
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons, retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (US publication 1900, before 1931; LOC: no known restrictions; Commons PD-old-70-1923)
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division (LCCN 2010651334), via Wikimedia Commons
Text on the object
PUCK. "ARE OUR TEACHINGS, THEN, IN VAIN?" Copyright, 1900, by Keppler & Schwarzmann. J. Ottmann Lith. Co. Puck Bldg. N.Y. [text on the two lower banners illegible]
