Trade Card Bearing the Name of the Late Gunmaker John Knubley (1750–1795)

Trade Card Bearing the Name of the Late Gunmaker John Knubley (1750–1795)

Anonymous, British, late 18th–early 19th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In the late eighteenth century, craftsmen in London used customized engraved trade cards, similar to the modern-day business card, as a means of advertising their services and qualifications to potential clients. This trade card bears the name of John Knubley, gunmaker to the Prince of Wales and other members of the royal family. Knubley is believed to have trained and employed Samuel Brunn, the gunmaker responsible for the pair of silver-mounted Neoclassical pistols also in the Museum’s collection (1992.330.1, .2). The card, issued after Knubley’s death, was likely created by local businessman John Maullin, whose name appears on the card above Knubley’s. Maullin may have printed the card in anticipation of taking over Knubley’s business at No. 7 Charing Cross, a transaction that archival records indicate never came to pass.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Trade Card Bearing the Name of the Late Gunmaker John Knubley (1750–1795)Trade Card Bearing the Name of the Late Gunmaker John Knubley (1750–1795)Trade Card Bearing the Name of the Late Gunmaker John Knubley (1750–1795)Trade Card Bearing the Name of the Late Gunmaker John Knubley (1750–1795)Trade Card Bearing the Name of the Late Gunmaker John Knubley (1750–1795)

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.