Arab House, from the Habitations of Man series (N113) issued by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Smoking and Chewing Tobacco

Art Historical Context

Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *Arab House*, a charming commercial color lithograph from W. Duke, Sons &.'s *Habitations of Man* (N113), issued around 1890 to promote Honest Long Cut Smoking andwing Tobacco. Produced by Giles Company, this petite (just 2½ × 4⅛ inches) depicts a traditional Arab dwelling, complete with men and donkeys, evoking exotic locales to captivate collectors. These trade cards were everyday ephemera—small prints distributed with tobacco purchases—transforming mundane marketing into coveted keepsakes. Chromolithography, the medium here, revolutionized printing by allowing vivid, multi-color images on a mass scale, making high-quality illustrations affordable and widespread. This technique brought global architecture to American pockets, reflecting the era's fascination with Orientalism and world cultures amid expanding trade and imperialism. Today, housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, *Arab House* highlights how commerce fueled visual culture. It reminds us that even tobacco ads preserved slices of history, blending artistry with everyday life in the Gilded Age.

About the Artist

The Giles Company|American Tobacco Company|W. Duke, Sons & Co. (American|American) · 1870 |1800 –1920 |1900

New York and Durham, N.C.|New York, NY