Four Hearts, from the Playing Cards series (N84) to promote Turkish Cross-Cut Cigarettes for W. Duke, Sons and Co.

Four Hearts, from the Playing Cards series (N84) to promote Turkish Cross-Cut Cigarettes for W. Duke, Sons and Co.

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 Turkish Cross-Cut Cigarettes produced by W. Duke Sons & Co. The versos across the set display a matching abstract floral pattern. The Joker advertises Duke brand cigarettes and the Ace of Spades displays an ad for Turkish Cross-Cut Cigarettes. Besides Turkish Cross-Cut, a version of the same set of playing cards was also released to promote the overall W. Duke Sons & Co. brand.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Four Hearts, from the Playing Cards series (N84) to promote Turkish Cross-Cut Cigarettes for W. Duke, Sons and Co.Four Hearts, from the Playing Cards series (N84) to promote Turkish Cross-Cut Cigarettes for W. Duke, Sons and Co.Four Hearts, from the Playing Cards series (N84) to promote Turkish Cross-Cut Cigarettes for W. Duke, Sons and Co.Four Hearts, from the Playing Cards series (N84) to promote Turkish Cross-Cut Cigarettes for W. Duke, Sons and Co.Four Hearts, from the Playing Cards series (N84) to promote Turkish Cross-Cut Cigarettes for W. Duke, Sons and Co.

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.