Sewing box, from the Novelties series (N228, Type 4) issued by Kinney Bros.
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 1 5/16 × 2 3/4 in. (3.4 × 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
Burdick 218, N228.145
Tags
Art Historical Context
This charming 1889 commercial color lithograph, titled *Sewing Box*, belongs to the Novelties series (N228, Type 4) produced by the Kinney Tobacco Company. Measuring just1 5/ by 2 34 inches, the card was originally distributed as a promotional insert in cigarette packages, a common marketing practice in the late nineteenth century. Tobacco firms like Kinney used such ephemera to encourage brand loyalty while offering consumers brightly colored, collectible images that could be traded or pasted into albums. Printed through the efficient color lithography process, the card features floral motif...
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...