Cigarette box
Applied Arts
Inventory number
2021.12.7.17.AA.BX.C1920.CHAuthor:
Ed. Laurens Ltd (active from 1888 to WWII)Description
Egyptian cigarette box, model "The Khedive", rectangular shape and decorated on the lid by a small annotation between illustrations representing a portrait of Muhammad Tawfik Pasha, Khedive of Egypt from 1879 to 1892, a sphinx and the pyramids of Giza. Under the lid is a representation of the Laurens cigarette factory surrounded by the coats of arms of the states or kingdoms supplied by the company.The founder of the egyptian tobacco industry was Nestor GIANACLIS, a Greek who arrived in Egypt in 1864 and in 1871 established a factory in the Khairy Pasha palace in Cairo. After British troops began being stationed in Egypt in 1882, British officers developed a taste for the Egyptian cigarettes and they were soon being exported to the United Kingdom. The Egyptian tobacco industry was a major export industry that influenced global consumption trend during the period between the 1880s until the end of WWI. This was a rare example of finished products, manufactured in a peripheral world country, marketed in the Western world and influencing fashions, at the time when the predominant direction of cultural influence was the reverse. Egyptian cigarettes made by Gianaclis and others became so popular in Europe and the United States that they inspired a large number of what were, in effect, locally produced counterfeits. Among these was the American Camel brand, established in 1913, which used on its packet three Egyptian motifs: the camel, the pyramids, and a palm tree.
Materials
CardboardPaper
Origin
circa 1920 Geneva, SwitzerlandDimensions
Width : 7 cmLength : 8.5 cm
Height : 1.5 cm