American Snake Bird, from the Game Birds series (N40) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes
1888–90
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 7/8 x 3 1/4 in. (7.3 x 8.3 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
63.350.202.40.6
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *American Snake Bird*, a charming chromolithograph from Allen & Ginter's *Game Birds* series (40), produced between 1888 and 1890. This petite card, measuring just 2 7/8 x 3 1/4 inches, depicts the sleek, serpentine form of the Anhinganicknamed the "snake bird" for long neck and snake-like swimming style—perched dramatically amid reeds. Issued as inserts in cigarette packs, these cards were collectibles designed to entice smokers and spark a craze for trading sets featuring North American wildlife. Allen & Ginter, pioneering tobacco...
About the Artist
Allen & Ginter
Allen & Ginter, the pioneering American tobacco firm based in Richmond, Virginia, emerged around 1880 from the partnership of John F. Allen and Lewis Ginter, evolving from Allen's earlier John F. Allen & Company. Allen retired in 1882, succeeded by John Pope, yet the brand endured under Ginter's leadership, employing over 1,100 workers—mostly women—for hand-rolled cigarettes by 1886. Ginter, a Dut...