Musketeer, France, 17th Century, from the Military Series (N224) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 × 1 1/2 in. (7 × 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
Burdick 218, N224.415
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the world of 19th-century with *Musketeer, France, 17th*, a vibrant gem from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department. Issued in 1888 by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company as part of their Military Series (N224), tiny commercial color lithograph—measuring just 2¾ × 1½ inches—was tucked into packs of Sweet Caporal Cig to entice collectors and boost sales. Part of the renowned Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, it exemplifies ephemera: everyday printed items that capture a slice of history. The image depicts a dashing 17th-century French musketeer, sword at the r...
About the Artist
Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company · 1869–2011
**Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company (1869–2011)** Founded around 1869 by Francis Sherwood Kinney in New York City, the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company quickly rose to prominence in the burgeoning American cigarette industry. Francis, a pioneering tobacco manufacturer, experimented with hand-rolled cigarettes using blends of Turkish and Virginia tobacco, scaling to mass production by employing Europ...