Two of Spades, Prohibition, from Harlequin Cards, 2nd Series (N220) issued by Kinney Bros.
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
Burdick 218, N220.4
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century American ephemera with *Two of Spades,*, a cheeky commercial color lithograph from the *Harlequin Cards, nd Series (N220 issued by the Kinney Tobacco Company in 188. This diminutive card (just 2¾ × 1½ inches) captures two men in a lively game of cards, one raising a drink in toast amid swirling smoke and harlequin motifs. Part of a collectible series designed to promote Kinney's tobacco products, it exemplifies the playful advertising tactics of the era, where cigarette packs included insert cards that fueled a booming hobby among collectors. Chromo...
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...