Seven Clubs (black), from the Playing Cards series (N84) for Duke brand cigarettes

Art Historical Context

In the late 19th century, American tobacco companies like W. Duke Sons & Co. revolutionized by distributing colorful trade cards with cigarette purchases. This petite chromolithograph, *Seven Clubs (black)* the Playing Cards series (N84), dates to 1888 and a playing card from the suit of clubs. Produced as promotional ephemera, it was one of many inserts to entice collectors—often children and enthusiasts—while boosting Duke's brand amid fierce competition in the cigarette industry. Chromolithography, the medium here, was a breakthrough technique using multiple lithographic stones to layer vi...

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...