Mlle. Raige, from the Actresses series (N245) issued by Kinney Brothers to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1890

This photograph of Mlle. Raige was produced by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company as a promotional item for Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. She is holding a tambourine, an instrument resonating with ancient, ecstatic rituals. Consider the tambourine’s journey: from the Dionysian rites of ancient Greece, where it stirred frenzied devotion, to its later appearances in Renaissance bacchanals, celebrating earthly pleasures. Now, here it is again, reborn in the hands of a modern actress. Note how the rhythmic, trance-inducing quality of the tambourine remains constant. The subconscious pull of such symbols is potent. The image of Mlle. Raige may subtly evoke a sense of liberation and celebration. Such emotional undertones, embedded within cultural symbols, have the power to transcend time, resurfacing in unexpected forms and contexts.