Vintage Poster Archives
Sandeman Porto & Sherry 1928 | G. Massiot Vintage Ad Poster
Sandeman Porto & Sherry 1928 | G. Massiot Vintage Ad Poster
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A jet-black silhouette stands with its back to the viewer: wide caballero hat, full-length Portuguese capa negra, and a single ruby-red glass of port held at the shoulder. The background graduates from cadmium yellow at the top to deep emerald green, with a stippled texture suggesting the vine-terraced landscapes of the Douro and Jerez. Below the figure, 'PORTO & SHERRY' sits above 'SANDEMAN' in bold yellow slab type on a black panel. The composition rests on a single visual device, and nothing about it is wasted.
The design was conceived in 1928 by George Massiot Brown, a Scottish artist at the Lochend Printing Company in London, who signed his work 'G. Massiot' to lend it a French character. Sandeman had requested designs to promote its Porto and Sherry; what Brown delivered was something more durable. The figure's costume carries a double meaning: the Portuguese capa negra references port wine, the Spanish caballero hat references sherry. Printed by Draeger, Paris, the image entered the brand's national advertising in 1930 and appeared on bottle labels from 1934, when it was formally named 'The Don'. It is considered the oldest wine logo still in continuous use.
Auction houses including Poster Auctions International (PAI-LX, 354) and Swann Galleries catalogue this design as a reference point in Art Deco commercial lithography. The reduction of two wine-growing cultures to one flat black silhouette, against a two-colour ground, places it alongside Cassandre and Cappiello as a high point of interwar advertising design in France.
Reproduced as an archival print on 200gsm Enhanced Matte Fine Art Paper from a high-resolution restoration of the Draeger–Paris lithograph. A natural fit for bar, dining, and kitchen interiors, and for collections focused on Art Deco graphic design or the heritage advertising of Iberian wine brands.
