Pintail Duck, from the Game Birds series (N40) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes 1888 - 1890

This is a chromolithograph of a Pintail Duck, made as a cigarette card by Allen and Ginter of Richmond, Virginia in the late nineteenth century. These cards were collected and traded, and this one comes from a series devoted to game birds. The image shows the pintail duck in its natural habitat and above is a vignette of upper-class country life: a hunting rifle hangs above a fireplace. The text tells us that ‘Richmond Straight Cut Cigarettes are the Best’. We can tell much about the values of the society that produced this image. It assumes a close association between smoking, hunting, and wealth. These were the enjoyments of affluent men. It links the natural world to its commercial exploitation and consumption. To understand this image better, historians look to trade publications, company records, and advertising archives. They are used to understand the social and institutional context of such artworks.