Miss Wells in Colors of Royal Welsh Yacht Club, from the Yacht Colors of the World series (N140) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 in. × 2 1/2 in. (10.1 × 6.3 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
63.350.207.140.45
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 19th century, tobacco companies like W. Duke, Sons & Co. revolutionized advertising with colorful collectible cards tucked into product packages. This petite chromolithograph, *Miss Wells in Colors of Welsh Yacht Club*, from 1890 *Yacht Colors of the* series (N140), promoted Honest Long Cut Tobacco. just 4 x 2½ inches, it captures a stylish profile of a woman adorned in the vibrant flag hues of the prestigious Royal Welsh Yacht Club—reds, whites, and blues evoking maritime elegance. Chromolithography, the era's cutting-edge printing technique, allowed mass production of vivid, mul...
About the Artist
W. Duke, Sons & Co. · 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...