Shah's Birthday, Persia, from the Holidays series (N80) for Duke brand cigarettes
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 x 1 1/2 in. (7 x 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
63.350.204.80.35
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 19th century, tobacco companies like W., Sons & Co. revolutionized marketing by inserting colorful collectible cards into cigarette packs, sparking a collecting craze rivaling today's trading cards. "Shah's Birthday, Persia from the Holidays series (N80) around 1890, exemplifies ephemera. Produced in collaboration with Philadelphia printer George S. Harris Sons, this tiny chromolithograph (2 3/4 x 1 1/2 inches) vividly captures a festive scene of Persian celebration, likely featuring women in traditional attire amid joyous festivities honoring the Shah's birthday. Chromolithograph...
About the Artist
W. Duke, Sons & Co.|George S. Harris & Sons · 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...