Five Diamonds (red), 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
63.350.204.84.6
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *Five Diamonds (red)*, a charming chromolithograph from the N84 Playing Cards series produced by W. Duke, & Co. in 1888. This petite card, measuring just 2¾ x 1½ inches, depicts the red-suited five of diamonds in vivid detail, capturing the essence of a standard playing card with bold colors and precise lines. Issued as promotional inserts with Duke brand cigarettes, it exemplifies the era's innovative marketing tactics. Chromolithography, the medium here, revolutionized commercial printing by allowing mass production of colorful im...
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...