Eight Clubs (black), from the Playing Cards series (N84) for Duke brand cigarettes
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
63.350.204.84.35
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century American advertising with *Eight Clubs (black)*, a petite commercial color lithograph produced in 1888 by W. Duke, Sons & Co. This card, measuring just 2¾ x 1½ inches, belongs to the Playing Cards series (N84), a set of collectible inserts tucked into Duke brand cigarette packs. Tobacco companies like Duke revolutionized marketing by distributing these eye-catching cards, sparking a collecting frenzy among adults and children alike and turning everyday ephemera into cultural treasures. Crafted via color lithography—a pioneering technique that enable...
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...