Great Marbled Godwit, from the Game Birds series (N13) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 1 1/2 x 2 3/4 in. (3.8 x 7 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
63.350.201.13.22
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold the **Great Marbled Godwit a striking chromolithograph from Allen & Ginter's *Game Birds* series (N13), issued in 1889. This petite card (just 1 1/2 x 2 3/4 inches) captures the elegant shorebird in vivid detail—its long, upturned bill, marbled plumage, and poised stance evoking the wild beauty of North American wetlands. Produced by George S. Harris & Sons these inserts were tucked into cigarette packs by the innovative tobacco firm Allen & Ginter, transforming everyday smoking into a gateway for collecting. Chromolithography, the medium here, revolutionized 19th-century commercial pr...
About the Artist
Allen & Ginter|George S. Harris & Sons
Allen & Ginter, the pioneering American tobacco firm based in Richmond, Virginia, emerged around 1880 from the partnership of John F. Allen and Lewis Ginter, evolving from Allen's earlier John F. Allen & Company. Allen retired in 1882, succeeded by John Pope, yet the brand endured under Ginter's leadership, employing over 1,100 workers—mostly women—for hand-rolled cigarettes by 1886. Ginter, a Dut...