Delaware, from the Industries of States series (N117) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 3/16 × 2 1/2 in. (10.6 × 6.3 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
63.350.206.117.10
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century American advertising with *Delaware, from the Industries of States series (N)*, a charming commercial color lithograph produced by W. Duke, Sons & Co. in 1889. This petite card, measuring just 4 3/16 × 2 1/2 inches, was created to promote the company's "Honest Long Tobacco." Part of a popular series highlighting state industries, it likely features allegorical imagery of Delaware—perhaps a poised woman with shields, evoking the state's proud heritage and industrial prowess through symbolic Victorian iconography. Chromolithography, the medium here, w...
About the Artist
W. Duke, Sons & Co. · 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...