Life, 1912-12-05 · page 107 of 116
Life — December 5, 1912 — page 107: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily an **advertisement**, not a cartoon or satire. It promotes A.A. Vantine & Co.'s Oriental tea sets as luxury Christmas gifts. **The "pitch":** The ad targets wealthy Americans wanting to impress friends by sending exotic Japanese ceramics in original packaging—positioning the gift as authentically "from the Orient" rather than mass-produced domestically. **Key selling points highlighted:** - Hand-painted Kutani tea sets with gold detail ($10) - Fifteen-piece Moriage tea set ($5) - Preserved Japanese straw packing to emphasize authenticity - Free illustrated booklet showing designs **Historical context for modern readers:** This reflects early 20th-century American Japonisme—a fascination with Japanese aesthetics among the affluent. The emphasis on "original Oriental wrappings" and "gift direct from the Orient" suggests consumers valued the exotic appeal and authenticity markers as much as the objects themselves. The ad frames Vantine's as a cultural intermediary, selecting items "with special reference to refined American tastes" while maintaining their "Oriental effect."
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
If You Had a Friend in ¥ ‘ e : the Orient— € ANP wanted to make a most unique gift—away from d the common-place domestic article—you would z write your friend to select something unusual and have : it forwarded in all its original Oriental wrappings to the " person for whom it was intended. Vantine is Your Friend in the Orient l For the gift season we have imported a number of quaint Vantine tea sets, made and decorated under our supervision in Japan by the greatest ceramic artists of the present day. The : designs, colorings and ware, selected by us with special reference : to refined American tastes, are most attractively presented in ‘ our Tea Set Booklet. ; Send for a free copy of this beautiful booklet : illustrating in natural colors these distinctive Christmas gifts, : ranging in price from § ) to $10, express prepa ) 5 ICTURED on the cover of the book- | let above is a Kutani tea set, with hand-painted landscape design in rich red and green, outlined in pure gold, and with a border of gold on red; the gold being agate polished. Made in Kana- zawa—one of the oldest of Japanese =]. designs —teapot, sugar bowl, cream Fifteen-Piece Moriage Tea Set, Delivered Free, $5 sliGhioeTand SicGups andsaucers: Price: HE above isan unusually attractive example of the greatly pite up ucers. Price, Sets, consisting of fifteen The design is the conventional delivered prepaid to any address in basho or banana Icaf, with a floral de tion outlined in the far the United States, in original Moriage painting. All hand _ painted, in be ful tones of green and tan, tg! $10 Made in Na Price. delivered prepaid in. original Japanese packing $5 Japanese packing and hox . . . . and box to any address in the United States . on i Original Japanese Packing Undisturbed O add to the Oriental effect, for presentation purposes, we have had these ‘Tea Sets packed individually in our studios in Japan, as shown in the illustration to the right. The quaint, thorough straw packing and the Japanese boxes are left intact, just as they arri from the ship—the recipient thus receiving in reality a gift di from the Orient. When desired, the lid will be lifted sufficiently toinsert the card of the donor. In ordering, kindly instruct us on this point. Safe delivery guaranteed. ‘A AVANTINESCO¢* NEW YORK : BOSTON PHILADELPHIA | “The Most Interesting Store in America” CR. eo. oe’) | xm | comicbooks.com