Japanese, from World's Smokers series (N33) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes 1888

This vibrant lithograph from the "World's Smokers" series by Allen & Ginter depicts a Japanese woman with a long pipe. In this era, smoking was laden with symbolic weight, often associated with leisure, exoticism, and a sense of worldly sophistication. Consider the pipe itself. Across cultures and times, pipes have been ritual objects, emblems of peace, and tools for contemplation. Yet, in this image, its meaning shifts under the gaze of commerce and cultural curiosity. We see echoes of the "noble savage" trope—a romanticized, yet often inaccurate, portrayal of non-Western peoples. The woman’s elaborate dress and hairstyle, combined with the act of smoking, present a vision of Japan filtered through Western fantasy. Here, the collective imagination seizes upon an object and a person, turning them into symbols ripe for consumption, both literally and figuratively. This continuous cycle of observation, interpretation, and reinvention is the very pulse of cultural memory.