Order of Seraphs, Sweden and Norway, from the Military Series (N224) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1888

This is a chromolithograph, printed by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company as a promotional card for Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. Chromolithography was a complex process involving the use of multiple stone printing plates, each inked with a different color, and then layered in precise registration to create a vivid image. The card depicts the Order of Seraphs of Sweden and Norway, with the intricate design of the crown and cross enhanced by the print's layered colors. The process allowed for mass production of colorful images, democratizing visual culture during the late 19th century. But this came at a cost: the highly skilled laborers who operated the lithographic presses, often working in harsh conditions, and the reliance on cheap paper, speak to the intense pressures of capitalist production. Considered through the lens of craft, this card shows how commercial art could achieve surprising sophistication. Its value lies not only in its aesthetic appeal, but also in its representation of industrial processes, skilled labor, and the dynamics of consumption. It blurs the boundaries between fine art and commercial ephemera.