Five Spades (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
63.350.204.84.45
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 19th century, American tobacco companies like W. Duke Sons & Co. pioneered marketing by inserting collectible cards into cigarette packs, transforming everyday products into cultural phenomena. *Five Spades (black)*, from the 1888 Playing Cards series (N84 exemplifies this era's ephemera. Produced for Duke's popular brand, this petite chromolithograph depicts a stark black spade symbol on a card face, evoking the timeless allure of gambling and games while subtly promoting the product. Printed via color lithography—a revolutionary technique allowing vibrant, mass-produced images o...
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...