Tea Rose: Jealousy, from the series Floral Beauties and Language of Flowers (N75) for Duke brand cigarettes
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
63.350.204.75.45
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate 1892 color lithograph, *Tea Rose: Jealousy*, belongs to the “Floral Beauties and Language of Flowers” series issued by the American Tobacco Company for Duke brand cigarettes. Printed by Donaldson Brothers, the tiny card—just 2¾ by 1½ inches—depicts a graceful woman beside a tea rose, illustrating the Victorian practice of assigning emotional meanings to blooms. The tea rose’s soft petals and warm hues were understood to signal jealousy, turning an everyday flower into a coded message. Such cigarette cards were among the earliest forms of mass-produced color imagery available to ...
About the Artist
Donaldson Brothers|American Tobacco Company (American| ) · 1850 | –1870 |
American, New York|