Card Number 19, cut-out from banner advertising the Opera Gloves series (G29) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes 1885 - 1895

This is Card Number 19, a promotional cut-out from a banner advertising Allen & Ginter Cigarettes. The image features an opera glove holding a portrait. The glove itself, rendered in a delicate pink, presents a fascinating study in cultural symbolism. The motif of a gloved hand is rich in associations. Throughout history, gloves have signified status and power, obscuring and enhancing the hand, the primary tool for human action. Think of medieval knights receiving their gloves, or the pope wearing gloves for protection. But here, the glove's purpose shifts. It does not protect, but presents; it does not signify power, but elegance. In holding up a portrait, the gloved hand becomes a symbol of curated desire, a controlled presentation of beauty for consumption. This carefully constructed image speaks to our complex relationship with commerce, where desire is manufactured and sold through symbols of luxury and aspiration. It is an echo of cultural memory, transformed by the allure of the marketplace.