Visitekaart van Philippe Metayer, tabakshandelaar - Jean Bernard

A detailed eighteenth-century trade card by Dutch artist Jean Bernard, advertising the Amsterdam tobacco shop of Philippe Metayer.

This trade card, or visitekaart, produced by the Dutch artist Jean Bernard, serves as a functional advertisement for Philippe Metayer, a tobacco merchant based in Amsterdam. The composition is structured around a central cartouche, which features a detailed, miniature cityscape of Paris. This visual reference to the French capital likely served to associate the merchant's goods with the prestige of Parisian imports, a common marketing strategy for eighteenth and early nineteenth-century European retailers.

The surrounding text provides specific details regarding the merchant's location, identifying his shop on the Kalverstraat, opposite the Gaper Steeg in Amsterdam. The typography is elegant, reflecting the formal conventions of the period. The cartouche itself is rendered in a rococo-inspired style, with scrolling flourishes that frame the cityscape. Jean Bernard, known for his work as a draughtsman and etcher, demonstrates a high degree of precision in the fine lines of the architecture and the decorative border.

Trade cards of this era were essential tools for commerce, often kept by customers as a record of a shop's address and services. This particular example is preserved in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, demonstrating the intersection of commercial utility and graphic design in the late eighteenth century. The work is printed on a cream-toned paper, which has aged to a soft, neutral hue. The etching technique allows for a crispness in the lettering and the delicate rendering of the skyline, making it a fine example of period ephemera. It offers a glimpse into the retail environment of historic Amsterdam, where international trade and local commerce converged in the daily lives of its citizens.