Christmas, England, from the Holidays series (N80) for Duke brand cigarettes 1890

This chromolithograph, titled "Christmas, England," comes from a series of holiday-themed promotional cards produced around 1900 by W. Duke, Sons & Co. for their Duke brand cigarettes. These cards, printed using lithography, employed a chemical process that allowed for mass production and detailed imagery. The image shows a romantic winter scene, with a couple under the mistletoe. The figures’ clothing and background details are rendered with a precision that speaks to the capabilities of chromolithography. These cards were inserted into cigarette packages to encourage repeat purchases. Their appeal lay in their collectibility, their beauty, and the aspirational lifestyle they represented, which was a clever marketing strategy. While small in scale, the amount of labor and technology behind these cards is impressive, and we are reminded that even the most apparently trivial objects can embody significant social and economic forces. Appreciating this history allows us to see beyond the simple image, recognizing its role in the history of both art and consumer culture.