Queen of Spades (black), from the Playing Cards series (N84) for Duke brand cigarettes

Art Historical Context

Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *Queen of Spades ()*, a charming chromolithograph from W. Duke, Sons & Co.'s Playing Cards series (N84 produced in 1888. This tiny card, measuring just 2 3/4 x 1 1/2 inches, was distributed inside Duke brand cigarette packs as a promotional insert, enticing smokers to collect the full set mimicking a standard deck. Embodying the era's booming tobacco industry, these ephemera cards blended everyday gaming motifs with bold commercial appeal. Crafted via commercial color lithography—a revolutionary printing technique that allowed for vivid, multi-hued reproductions at scale—the Queen of Spades showcases the precision and punchy palette of chromolithography. This method, peaking in the Gilded Age, democratized colorful imagery, transforming humble trade cards into coveted collectibles. Here, the regal figure in black evokes the drama of card games like poker or whist, popular pastimes reflecting Victorian leisure culture. Today, housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department as part of The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, this piece highlights ephemera's artistic merit. Burdick's gift preserves these snapshots of consumer history, reminding us how advertising artistry shaped daily life and sparked a collecting frenzy that endures among enthusiasts.

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...