Six Hearts (red), from the Playing Cards series (N84) 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
63.350.204.84.20
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th American advertising with *Six Hearts (red)*, a charming chromolithograph from W. Duke, Sons & Co.'s Cards series (N84 produced in 1888. This tiny card, measuring just 2¾ x 1½ inches, tucked into Duke cigarette packs as a promotional insert, enticing smokers to collect the full set mimicking a standard deck. Duke, a leading tobacco firm, pioneered these giveaways during the "cigarette card craze," blending entertainment with brand loyalty in an era when mass production fueled consumer culture. Crafted via commercial color lithography—a breakthrough techniqu...
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...