French Art Nouveau Cigarette Paper Vintage Poster for ‘Riz La’, 1898

This is a French Belle Epoque period advertisement calendar for Riz La from 1898. It is a wonderfully colorful, exceptionally detailed, and exquisitely made scene of a group of elegant French men and women relaxing in a garden room. A dog sleeps on the steps in front of the group; a sculpture, a large amount of lily pads, and a collection of flowering plants sit within a pond in the foreground of the image. The group is composed of several beautifully dressed women sitting around a table, with two men introducing themselves to two of the seated ladies. The exquisite greens, blues, yellows, and reds make this delightful image pop; the Riz La + logo sits at the top of the image in a bright red typography. Small monthly calendars perfectly frame this Belle Epoque period advertisement from 1898.

Riz La first began production in 1660, headed by Pierre Lacroix, the founder of the Lacroix Rolling Paper company. In 1865 the tissue that was previously used in the papers was replaced with paper made from rice. This change to rice paper is where the name “RizLa+” comes from: it is a combination of the French word for rice, “riz,” with “la” and a cross symbol, representing the Lacroix family name, which literally translates to “the cross.”