Irish Jig, from National Dances (N225, Type 1) issued by Kinney Bros.
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 × 1 1/2 in. (7 × 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
Burdick 218, N225.39
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the lively world 19th-century American ephemera with *Irish Jig*, a vibrant commercial color lithograph the *National Dances* seriesN225, Type 1), issued by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company 1889. This card, measuring just 2 3/4 × 1 1/2 inches, captures women in mid-twirl, their skirts flaring with joyful energy as they perform the iconic Irish folk dance. Produced as a promotional insert for tobacco products, it exemplifies the era's trade cards—affordable, collectible souvenirs that turned everyday purchases into treasures. Chromolithography, the medium here, was a breakthrough ...
About the Artist
Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company · 1869–2011
**Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company (1869–2011)** Founded around 1869 by Francis Sherwood Kinney in New York City, the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company quickly rose to prominence in the burgeoning American cigarette industry. Francis, a pioneering tobacco manufacturer, experimented with hand-rolled cigarettes using blends of Turkish and Virginia tobacco, scaling to mass production by employing Europ...