Actress wearing bodice with fur neckline, from Stars of the Stage, Fourth Series (N132) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet (Irregular): 3 15/16 × 1 15/16 in. (10 × 5 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
63.350.207.132.13
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the dazzling world of late 19th-century American theater with this charming commercial color lithograph, *Actress wearing bodice with fur neckline*, the *Stars of the, Fourth Series (N)*. Produced by W. Duke, Sons & Co.—soon to become the American Tobacco Company—this tiny print (just under 4 by 2 inches) captures a poised actress in elegant attire, her fur-trimmed bodice evoking the opulent fashion of the Gilded Age. Issued between 1892 and 1893, it was one of many collectible cards tucked into packs of Honest Long Cut Tobacco, transforming everyday smoking into a gateway for celebr...
About the Artist
W. Duke, Sons & Co.|American Tobacco Company · 1870–1920
**W. Duke, Sons & Co.: Pioneers of Chromolithographic Trade Card Art** W. Duke, Sons & Co., an American tobacco manufacturer, emerged from the entrepreneurial vision of Washington Duke (1820–1905) and his sons in Durham, North Carolina. After the Civil War, Washington abandoned farming in 1874 to join his eldest son, Brodie L. Duke, in the burgeoning tobacco trade, establishing a factory that for...