Set Introduction Cover Card, from Harlequin Cards, 2nd Series (N220) issued by Kinney Bros.
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, N220.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with the *Set Introduction Cover Card* from the *Harlequin Cards, 2nd (N220)*, by the Kinney Brothers Company in 1889 This petite commercial color lithograph, just 2¾ × 1½ inches, served as an enticing cover for a popular set of trading cards inserted into cigarette packs. Likely featuring stylized men and women in harlequin-inspired attire, it captured the playful spirit of Victorian-era entertainment, blending theater motifs with commercial appeal. Chromolithography, the medium's hallmark technique, allowed for bold, multi-layered colo...
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...