Posts tagged with "poster"



17. March 2024
Original ca. 1940 BASF / I.G. Farben Chinese advertising poster for Indanthrene dye featuring actress Nancy Chan. From the MOFBA collection.
This gorgeous 1940s advertising poster for Indanthrene dye from our collection, features acclaimed Chinese actress Nancy Chan. It also tells the story of a chemical innovation from Germany that deeply influenced the popularization of the iconic Cheongsam or Qipao dress in China. The Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik, better known as BASF, was founded in Mannheim, Germany in 1865 and had already been actively marketing and selling its “Indigo Pure” dyes in China since 1885.
10. February 2024
Happy Chinese New Year 2024 from the MOFBA & Pirate Cigarettes!
01. December 2023
Original vintage Bayer Chinese advertising poster for Aspirin and Tonicum from 1938 featuring Liang Saishan. From the MOFBA collection.
This advertising poster from our collection tells of an incredible streak of bad luck for the German pharma giant Bayer during a both glamorous and troublesome period of history in the Middle Kingdom.
08. November 2023
Rare Lever Brothers Chinese advertising poster for Sunlight Soap with matching original bar of soap. Painted by Hang Zhiying (杭樨英). From the MOFBA collection.
If you look closely you will discover, that not only do we have this very rare 1930s Chinese Lever Brothers advertisement in our collection, but also an original matching soap bar, just as depicted on the poster. The company was once the largest soap producer in China and its traces remain visible in the country to this day. We have retold its 150-year long history, internationally and in the Middle Kingdom specifically across multiple posts in the past: Lever's Health Soap still sold here The...
19. October 2023
Ca. 1930s advertisement poster for Sun-Maid Raisins in China. From the MOFBA collection.
For more on the history of Sun-Maid Raisins in China please visit our previous blog post here.
05. September 2023
An exceptionally rare 1917 Chinese Horlick's malted milk advertising calendar poster featuring Guan Yu and Cao Cao from the Three Kingdoms period. From the MOFBA collection.
This unique 1917 Horlick’s calendar advertisement from our collection depicts a martial scene that actually takes us all the way back to the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. Get ready for an immortal story about the mightiest of men, war, loyalty and... warm milk.
12. June 2023
A 1927 Chinese advertising poster for Palmolive, by Hang Zhiying. From the MOFBA collection.
This rare 1927 Palmolive poster from our collection, not only stems from a very short-lived period of the brand, but was also designed by the most prolific commercial artist of Republican China. Follow along for a deep-dive into this golden age of Chinese advertising.
23. January 2023
A.S. Watson 1916 Chinese Calendar Poster Advertisement by Feng Runzhi. From the MOFBA collection.
Happy Chinese New Year! This rare A.S. Watsons advertisement from our collection not only has a peculiar design around the auspicious character 康 (health), but tells the origin story and evolution of the famous Chinese calendar posters which were in fact pioneered by Watsons in the 1880s together with a second British firm.
02. January 2023
1930s Honey Soap vintage Chinese advertising poster featuring Li Lili. From the MOFBA collection.
As gorgeous and innocent looking this “Honey Soap” advertising poster featuring Chinese actress Li Lili is, it actually tells the story of several dark episodes from China’s marketing and entertainment history.
12. December 2022
J.S. Fry & Son's 1927 Chinese Calendar Poster Advertising. From the MOFBA collection
A sophisticated Old Shanghai lady relaxing with a bite of Fry’s chocolate at her country home. Her bamboo flute (or is it maybe an opium pipe?) close beside her. What in 1927 may have sounded like an intriguing value proposition for J.S. Fry & Son’s in the Middle Kingdom, turned out to be nothing but a pipe dream…. Joseph Fry from Bristol, England started making chocolate around 1759. After several changes of name and ownership, the business became J. S. Fry & Sons in 1822. In...

Show more