Design from the Momordica Charantia by P. Moorgesan

Anonymous, British, 19th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This object is housed in an album of British trade cards from the collections of Bella C. Landauer, Ambrose Heal, and others. The term “trade card” is of nineteenth-century origin and refers to a card that advertises the services of an individual or business. Eighteenth-century trade cards were often printed on thin sheets of paper and referred to as “tradesmen’s cards,” “tradesmen’s bills,” or “shopkeeper’s bills.” During the Victorian era, trade cards were often reinforced on pasteboard and closely resemble business cards today. The Momordica Charantia is a tropical and subtropical vine grown widely in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean for its edible fruit, a type of bitter melon. The vine of the Momordica Charantia decorates the border of this print and two melons can be seen underneath the vine at the top left and right corners.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art