Jaguar, from Quadrupeds series (N41) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 7/8 x 3 1/4 in. (7.3 x 8.3 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
63.350.202.41.24
Tags
Art Historical Context
This vibrant commercial color lithograph from 1890 belongs to Allen & Ginter’s Quadrupeds series (N41), a set of collectible trading cards inserted into cigarette packages. Produced by the firm of Lindner, Eddy & Claus, the tiny sheet—just under three inches wide—dep a jaguar, one many exotic animals featured to captivate smokers and encourage collecting. Such cards turned everyday tobacco purchases into an engaging pastime, blending advertising with light education about the natural world. Color lithography allowed these images to be printed inexpensively yet with striking detail and saturat...
About the Artist
Allen & Ginter|Lindner, Eddy & Claus
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...