Four Hearts, from the Playing Cards series (N84) to promote Turkish Cross-Cut Cigarettes for W. Duke, Sons and Co.
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
63.350.204.84.71
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the colorful world of 1880s advertising with *Four Hearts*, a charming chromolithograph from W. Duke, Sons &.'s Playing Cards series (N84). Produced in 1888 to promote their Turkish Cross-Cut Cig, this tiny card—measuring just 2 3/4 x 1 1/2 inches—depicts four heart-suited playing cards in vivid reds and blacks. Issued as inserts in cigarette packs, these ephemera served dual purposes: stiffening packages and enticing collectors with their playful designs mimicking a standard deck. Chromolithography, the medium here, was a breakthrough in commercial printing, allowing mass productio...
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...