Circassian Dancer, from the Dancing Women series (N186) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co.
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 11/16 × 1 7/16 in. (6.9 × 3.7 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
63.350.216.186.19
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *Circassian Dancer* from the *Dancing Women* series (N186), produced by Wm. S. Kimball & Co. in 1889. This petite commercial color lithograph, measuring just 2 11/16 × 1 7/16 inches, was likely a collectible trade card or insert distributed with Kimball's tobacco products. Part of a popular series celebrating dancers, it captures the era's fascination with exotic performers, particularly the romanticized Circassian women from the Caucasus region, often idealized in Western imagination as symbols of beauty and grace. Chromolithograph...
About the Artist
William S. Kimball & Company
**William S. Kimball & Company**, a pioneering American tobacco manufacturer, was established in 1846 in Rochester, New York, by William S. Kimball and James C. Hart. The firm quickly grew into one of the city's largest employers, particularly of women, producing popular brands like Peerless chewing tobacco, Rigatta and Fireside smoking tobacco, and Vanity Fair cigarettes. Under Kimball's leadersh...