Cardinal Grosbeak Spinning Ornament

Metropolitan Museum of Art Christmas ornaments.

In 1888, the Virginia-based tobacco company Allen & Ginter issued a series of 50 trade cards depicting various avian species. This cardinal, delicately perched on a rotating bough, nods to a commercial lithograph from that series titled Birds of America, which was designed to promote Allen & Ginter Brand Cigarettes.

To learn more about the Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, read our blog post here.