Girl winding pearls around herself in a tobacco label advertisement.
This public domain advertisement is from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. The subject is a young girl sitting on a red velvet cushion in front of an ornately framed mirror. She is drawing long strings of pearls from a fancy gilded box and winding them around her head and shoulders. The product being sold in this ad is assumed to be pearls, but the place of sale is not clear. This advertisement was published as a tobacco label.
The pre-1923 publication date associated with this advertisement indicates that this image is in the public domain.
4 megabyte TIFF. Hosted at the Library of Congress.
User Descriptions
Related Media
spread the love
Cool enough to pass along to your peeps.
03.17.10
The image Pearl of the Orient is a vintage type image showing a little girl playing dress-up in front of a large oval, gilded mirror. She is in a very rich environment, surrounded by draping blue and red fabrics, large golden oriental-styled carpet, and seated on a red cushion with yellow tassels. There is a jeweled box that is open and draped with pearls. The little girl is smiling and looking back like she has just been discovered by her mom as she tries on her mother’s pearls. She has looped a strand around her golden curls and has gotten a little over zealous with one strand which has become unstrung and is dripping beads onto the carpeted floor. The little girls smile is enhanced with her angelic smile and rosy red cheeks. Her cherubic form is framed with a white night gown that is starting to fall off her shoulders. The picture brings back memories of exploring my own mother’s jewelry box and the delight of dressing up in fancy things. It also makes me think of the vintage post cards my grandmother used to show me and the glamour of that era. The image makes you think of home but at the same time a rich luxurious home that contains all the finer things in life.
03.18.10
“Pearl of The Orient” features a young child, who seems to resemble a young Drew Barrymore, entangling herself in a long strand of pearls. As she sits upon a large red cushion in a yellow carpeted room, she looks back mischievously to see if anyone is watching her. Alas, no reflection of anyone else is shown in the mirror. The child probably dressed herself on this playful day and never took the time to properly secure her sheer white dress because she was too eager to get her hands on the pearls; so eager that she in fact broke the strand, releasing several beads onto the carpet.
The grainy texture of the image gives it a sense of age. The blue curtain brings a sense of mystery. Although this picture is full of details, one must wonder: why is the young girl’s hand in front of her ear in the reflection, but really behind her ear in the image? And is that gate behind her tall enough to prevent her from falling to her demise if she chooses to awkwardly play around it?
Of course, she must be a child of some royalty to have access to such a gold accented jewelry box and elegant vanity mirror.
The image makes you wonder how such an ad would be enticing to those who are interested in pearls.