Mandolin, from the Musical Instruments series (N82) for Duke brand cigarettes
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
63.350.204.82.33
Tags
Art Historical Context
This charming 1888 color lithograph belongs to the “Musical Instruments” series (N82) issued by W. Duke, Sons & Co. as premium inside packs of Duke brand cigarettes. Printed by Schumacher & Ettlinger in New York, the tiny—barely larger than a modern postage stamp—depicts a woman gracefully playing a mandolin, part of a larger set that illustrated a range of instruments and their performers. Such trade cards were among the earliest forms of mass-market color printing, using the relatively new technique of commercial lithography to create bright, eye-catching images that encouraged brand loyalty...
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...