Drum, from the Novelties series (N228, Type 4) issued by Kinney Bros.

Art Historical Context

This petite chromolithograph, titled *Drum* from Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company's Novelties series (N228, Type 4), captures the vibrant world of 1880s American advertising. Issued in 1889, it measures just 2 1/8 × 1 1/2 inches, designed as a collectible insert in cigarette packs to entice smokers and budding hobbyists. The Kinney Brothers, prominent tobacco manufacturers, produced these ephemera to promote their brand amid fierce market competition, blending novelty with mass appeal. Rendered in vivid commercial color lithography—a pioneering technique for affordable, multi-hued prints—the card likely features a profile of a woman alongside a drum, evoking themes of music, rhythm, and perhaps feminine allure in Victorian imagery. Lithography's precision allowed for intricate details on such a tiny scale, making these cards cherished artifacts of everyday commerce turned art. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, thanks to the Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, this piece highlights ephemera's cultural role: disposable yet enduring tokens of Gilded Age leisure and collecting mania. Visitors, imagine slipping one from a cigarette pack—a gateway to history in your pocket!

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...