Malta, from Flags of All Nations, Series 2 (N10) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands
1890
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 x 1 1/2 in. (7 x 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
63.350.201.10.26
Tags
Art Historical Context
This charming 1890 commercial color lithograph comes from Allen & Ginter’s “Flags of All Nations, Series 2,” a set of small collectible cards distributed inside cigarette packages. Measuring just 2¾ by 1½ inches, the card showcases the flag of Malta against a simple background, its bold reds, whites, and blues crisply printed through the newly refined techniques of color lithography. Produced by the Richmond-based tobacco firm, these cards transformed everyday smoking into an opportunity for collecting and learning about the world’s nations. In the late nineteenth century, such ephemera playe...
About the Artist
Allen & Ginter
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...