Rose Wilson in Colors of the Boston 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
63.350.207.140.5
Tags
Art Historical Context
This vibrant commercial color lithograph, *Rose Wilson in Colors the Boston Yacht Club*, a gem from the 1890 "Yacht Colors of the" series (N140 produced by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to promote their Honest Long Cut Tobacco. Measuring just 4 by 2½ inches, this petite print exemplifies the era's trade cards—collectible ephemera distributed by tobacco companies to captivate consumers. It features a portrait of Rose Wilson, elegantly attired in the distinctive colors and flag of the prestigious Boston Yacht Club, blending portraiture with nautical symbolism. Chromolithography, the medium here, was a gr...
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...