Llama, from the Animals of the World series (T180), issued by Abdul Cigarettes 1881

This chromolithograph of a llama comes from the Animals of the World series, issued around 1910 by Abdul Cigarettes. Immediately, we notice the peculiar blend of the natural and the artificial, a tension that defines its structural framework. The llama, rendered in meticulous detail, stands against a stylized backdrop of soft blues and browns with the bare minimum of texture in the mountains and sky. The composition is deceptively simple, yet it reveals much about the cultural codes at play. The animal is presented as an isolated specimen, spotlighted against an implied landscape, thus inviting a semiotic reading, positioning the animal not as a being within an environment, but as a signifier of exoticism and scientific curiosity. The clean lines and crisp rendering offer a way of seeing and categorizing the natural world, aligning with the era’s impulse to organize knowledge. The rigid borders of the card contrast sharply with the organic form of the llama, highlighting a tension between nature and culture. It encourages us to consider how we frame our understanding of the world through the lens of representation.