Jaguar, from the Quadrupeds series (N21) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes
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
63.350.201.21.24
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of19th-century advertising with *Jaguar, from the Quadrupeds (N21) for Allen & Ginterarettes* (1890). This petite commercial color lithograph, measuring just 1 1/2 x 2 3/4 inches, captures the fierce grace of a jaguar in vivid detail. Produced by the lithographic firm Lindner, Eddy & Claus the American tobacco company Allen & G, it was one of many collectible cards inserted into cigarette packs to entice smokers and spark a collecting frenzy among Victorians. Chromolithography, the innovative printing technique used here, allowed for rich, multi-layered colors on a...
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...