A Natural Mistake, from the Snapshots from "Puck" series (N128) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco 1888

This chromolithograph, titled 'A Natural Mistake,' was created around 1880 by W. Duke, Sons & Co. The composition centers on a billiards game, where a player, with a cue ball aimed at the open mouth of a seated man, creates a focal point. The pastel hues and smooth texture of the print soften the potentially vulgar scene, presenting a comical tableau. The artist uses linear perspective to define the space, yet flattens the figures, giving the scene a stage-like quality. This flattening effect, combined with the print medium, challenges traditional modes of representation, leaning toward the caricatured and the absurd. The depicted action can be read as a challenge to accepted social behaviour. The semiotic structure of the image relies on recognizable types—the gambler and the victim—set within a specific social space. The image’s value lies not merely in its representational content but in its structure, and how it subverts expectations through a combination of style and content.