Seven Diamonds (red), from the Playing Cards series (N84) for Duke brand cigarettes

Seven Diamonds (red), from the Playing Cards series (N84) for Duke brand cigarettes

W. Duke, Sons & Co.

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Trade cards from the "Playing Cards" series (N84), issued in a set of 53 cards in 1888 to promote W. Duke Sons & Co. brand cigarettes. The versos display a matching abstract floral pattern. The Joker and the Ace of Spades display an ad for Duke brand cigarettes. Besides Duke's Cigarettes, the same set of playing cards was also released to promote Turkish Cross Cut Cigarettes.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Seven Diamonds (red), from the Playing Cards series (N84) for Duke brand cigarettesSeven Diamonds (red), from the Playing Cards series (N84) for Duke brand cigarettesSeven Diamonds (red), from the Playing Cards series (N84) for Duke brand cigarettesSeven Diamonds (red), from the Playing Cards series (N84) for Duke brand cigarettesSeven Diamonds (red), from the Playing Cards series (N84) for Duke brand cigarettes

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.