Nox, Goddess of the Night, from the Goddesses of the Greeks and Romans series (N188) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co.
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 1 1/2 × 2 3/4 in. (3.8 × 7 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
63.350.216.188.16
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 19th century, tobacco companies like Wm.. Kimball & Co. collectors with vibrant insert cards tucked into cigarette packs, blending education and promotion. This petite *Nox, Goddess of the* (1889) hails from their "Goddesses of the Greeks Romans" series (N), a set of 50 cards celebrating classical mythology. Nox, the Roman personification of night—equivalent to the Greek Nyx—appears here as a ethereal figure, evoking mystery and the cosmos in vivid commercial color lithography by the Ketterlinus Lithography Company. Measuring just 1 1/2 × 2 3/4 inches, this ephemera exemplifies th...
About the Artist
William S. Kimball & Company|Ketterlinus Lithography Company
**William S. Kimball & Company**, a pioneering American tobacco manufacturer, was established in 1846 in Rochester, New York, by William S. Kimball and James C. Hart. The firm quickly grew into one of the city's largest employers, particularly of women, producing popular brands like Peerless chewing tobacco, Rigatta and Fireside smoking tobacco, and Vanity Fair cigarettes. Under Kimball's leadersh...