* Saxolėine Color Lithograph, Ateliers Chėret, Paris , 1892

Priced in Mexican Pesos .  This is the real McCoy.. our consigner was a collector and always insisted that her pieces bore the tax seal (as photographed here) and be mounted on linen, as is this lithographic poster.  The artist/lithographer was  Jules Chėret ( born 1836 - died 1932), 20 Rue Bergėre, Paris, THE source for the original posters of the period. Jules Chéret produced numerous variations on this poster advertising Saxoléine paraffin oil. Prior to the introduction of electricity, paraffin oil provided the main source of lamp fuel to light nineteenth-century homes and streets. Paraffin was a mineral-based oil, a vast improvement on the animal-based oils that had previously been used, which emitted smoke and a strong smell on burning. This accounts for the Saxoléine poster's tagline: Pétrole de Sureté, meaning that it was a stable fuel that could be relied upon. To reinforce this, Chéret's design shows a young, attractive woman holding a lamp aloft, its brilliant light illuminating her dress.