Tea Rose: Jealousy, from the series Floral Beauties and Language of Flowers (N75) for Duke brand cigarettes 1892

This small chromolithograph, made for Duke brand cigarettes, is part of a series called "Floral Beauties and Language of Flowers." Created at a time when consumer culture was rapidly expanding, it reflects a Victorian fascination with assigning symbolic meanings to flowers. The "tea rose" here signifies jealousy, a charged emotion often associated with women in the 19th century. The image presents us with a seemingly demure woman, adorned with pearls, her gaze averted. But is she demure, or is she masking a more complex interior life? The card speaks to how women's emotions were both romanticized and constrained by societal expectations. The language of flowers offered a veiled way to express feelings that were otherwise suppressed. This seemingly innocuous advertisement reveals a culture grappling with female identity, desire, and the unspoken tensions simmering beneath the surface of polite society. In our own time, it asks us to consider the ways that these representations continue to shape our understanding of gender and emotion.