Card Number 59, Miss Mattie Vickers, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-2) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes 1880s

This card, made by W. Duke, Sons & Co., features Miss Mattie Vickers, an actress of her time, posed beside a classical vase—an object laden with symbolic weight. The vase, a motif stretching back to ancient Greece, represents more than mere ornamentation. It’s a vessel of history, echoing rituals and commemorations. The pose of Miss Vickers, leaning with casual grace, contrasts with the vase’s solemn, historical implications, creating a tension between the timeless and the contemporary. The curves of her dress hint at Botticelli’s Venus, yet the corset grounds her firmly in the late 19th century. Consider how the vase, in its varied forms, has appeared across millennia: from storing the ashes of heroes to gracing the tables of the nouveau riche. Each era imbues it with new meanings, a palimpsest of cultural memory. In this modest cigarette card, the vase serves as a subconscious bridge, linking the ephemeral pleasure of a smoke with aspirations of timeless beauty and cultural depth. It is the psyche's yearning for enduring connection, captured in a fleeting image.