Officer, City Troop, Philadelphia, from the Military Series (N224) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1888

This chromolithograph, dating to the late 19th century, was printed by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company as a promotional item for Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. It shows an officer of the City Troop of Philadelphia in full dress uniform. The image’s flat, graphic style speaks to its means of production. Chromolithography was an industrial printing process that involved using multiple lithographic stones, each applying a different color to the final image. This allowed for mass production of colorful images, making them accessible to a wide audience. It democratized image production, in a way not dissimilar to social media today. But unlike a unique painting or drawing, the value of this card lay in its reproducibility, becoming a token in a vast network of commodity exchange. The image depicts a member of the military elite; the card itself was a cheap and cheerful item, distributed to consumers of tobacco. So, even a seemingly simple image can embody complex relationships between class, labor, and consumption.