A Fable, from the Magic Changing Cards series (N223) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 1 1/2 × 2 3/4 in. (3.8 × 7 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ephemera
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, Gift of Jefferson R. Burdick
Accession Number
Burdick 218, N223.45
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the whimsical world of 19th advertising with *A Fable*, a gem from the Magic Changing Cards series (N), issued by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company in 1889. This tiny commercial color lithograph, measuring just 1 1/2 × 2 3/4 inches, was tucked into cigarette packages as a promotional insert, delighting collectors young and old. Part of a popular series featuring optical illusions—likely transforming images tied to magic tricks and playful donkeys—the card embodies the era's fad for "chromo" cards, vibrant ephemera that blurred the line between art and commerce. Chromolithography, ...
About the Artist
Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company · 1869–2011
**Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company (1869–2011)** Founded around 1869 by Francis Sherwood Kinney in New York City, the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company quickly rose to prominence in the burgeoning American cigarette industry. Francis, a pioneering tobacco manufacturer, experimented with hand-rolled cigarettes using blends of Turkish and Virginia tobacco, scaling to mass production by employing Europ...