Chickadee, from the Birds of America series (N4) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands
1888
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 x 1 1/2 in. (7 x 3.8 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
63.350.201.4.33
Tags
Art Historical Context
This charming 1888 commercial color lithograph, titled *Chickadee*, belongs to Allen & Ginter’s “Birds of America” series (N4), issued as a promotional insert for their cigarette brands. Measuring just 2 ¾ by 1 ½ inches, the tiny print exemplifies the era’s innovative use of color lithography to create affordable, vividly detailed trading cards that could be collected and traded by the public. In the late nineteenth century, such ephemera played a significant role in popular culture, blending natural-history education with consumer marketing. Allen & Ginter, a leading tobacco company, capital...
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...