Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, from the Naval Flags series (N17) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands 1886 - 1891

Curator: The jewel-like colors in this print immediately strike me. There's something so charming about its quaint formality. Editor: And to what end? This is Allen & Ginter's "Lord Lieutenant of Ireland," one of the cards from their Naval Flags series, likely produced between 1886 and 1891. Look at the context—cigarettes, consumption, imperial messaging... It speaks volumes. Curator: True, but the formal arrangement is key to decoding that messaging. Note how the flag dominates, nearly obscuring the ship. The colors—vivid blues and reds against a creamy ground—create a visual hierarchy. It reads as power through and through. Editor: Power inextricably linked to capital. These cards, printed using inexpensive watercolor, were essentially capitalist incentives. They represent a very deliberate manipulation of class, promising aspirational value to working-class consumers. That flag draped behind the gold harp of Ireland serves not as symbol, but as brand. Curator: Brand, yes, but what sort of brand? Its heraldic precision evokes order, authority... and that subtle contrast between the graphic, somewhat rigid flag, and the fluid sea creates a beautiful tension. Editor: Precisely my point! "Tension" manufactured in Richmond, Virginia. The texture of the printed material itself reinforces the idea. Think of the mass production that makes the creation and distribution of thousands upon thousands of these images possible, pushing this idealized and abstracted idea of Ireland to the consumer in neat little paper squares. The point wasn't high art, but accessibility. Curator: It’s this ubiquity that enables its profound impact, wouldn't you agree? The card format allows an accessible format of both an artwork, as well as national iconography, creating instant legibility for a variety of audiences. Editor: Indeed. We might not find any breathtaking artistic achievement in the "Lord Lieutenant of Ireland," but its endurance, like an insidious little thought, continues to resonate—even on this trading card. Curator: A resonant thought indeed, communicated by deceptively harmonious colors.