Miss Wells in Colors of the 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
63.350.207.140.38
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 19th century, tobacco companies like W. Duke, Sons & Co. advertising by inserting colorful collectible cards into their products, turning everyday purchases into treasures for enthusiasts. This charming 1890 commercial color lithograph, *Miss Wells in Colors of Royal Welsh Yacht Club*, is a prime example from the *Yacht Colors of the World series (N140), Honest Long Cut Tobacco. just 4 × 2½ inches, it was designed as ephemera—small, disposable inserts meant to captivate smokers and spark collecting fever. Chromolithography, the medium here, allowed for vivid, multi-layered colors ...
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...