Guitar and Mandolin, from the Musical Instruments series (N121) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 1/16 × 2 1/2 in. (10.3 × 6.4 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
63.350.206.121.15
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 19th century, American tobacco companies like W. Duke, Sons & Co. revolutionized with vibrant trade cards, small collectibles inserted into product packages to entice buyers. *Guitar and Mandolin (1888), from the Musical Instruments series (N121 promoting Honest Long Cut Tobacco exemplifies this trend. Produced as a commercial color lithograph Schumacher & Ettlinger, this petite card (just 4 1/16 × 2 1/2 inches) captures the era's fascination with parlor music, featuring women alongside gleaming guitars and mandolins—symbols of domestic leisure and emerging popular culture. Chromo...
About the Artist
W. Duke, Sons & Co.|Schumacher & Ettlinger · 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...