Early Engraver Played His Cards Right

The Cardmaker
From L'Encyclopedie by Diderot et d'Alembert, Paris, 1751

The "Meister der Spielkarten", or "The Master of the Playing Cards" is known only through the 106 engravings that have been attributed to him, including the set of playing cards that he is named for.  The term “master” is reserved for someone who has completed an apprenticeship and ran his own workshop, teaching apprentices.  His presumed students are also unknown but have similar names, such as "The Master of the Nuremberg Passion", "The Master of 1446", and "The Master of the Banderoles".

9 of Beasts of Prey.
Central climbing bear also appears in a copy
of the Gutenberg Bible.
Multiple-plate card, each animal is on a separate
copper plate, several which are reused elsewhere.

The first woodcuts on paper were playing cards.  Prior to this playing cards were hand-colored and very expensive.  A way was needed to mass produce them and make them affordable to more people, as playing cards caught on quickly.  While French and Italian manuscripts in the middle 15th century mention woodblocks made for printing playing cards, a German manuscript from 1402 specifically mentions "kartenmahler" (card painter) or "kartenmacher" (card maker), according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.  

The Queen of Wild Men
Courtesy of the Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden, Germany

There was a distinction in the process of woodcuts between the designer who made the drawings and the artisan who cut the drawings in wood. Since engravers came from professional craftsmen, goldsmiths and armor makers who were designers themselves, this process could be accomplished by one person instead of two, making control of the entire process achievable.

Five of Flowers
Image courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Engraving was a more expensive process than woodcuts, and the resulting playing cards must have been unique.  "The Master of the Playing Cards" appears to have been trained as an artist rather than a goldsmith. His prints show images in three dimensions, shaded by parallel lines.   The fact that these cards were engraved, and therefore more expensive, suggests they were made for clients of some financial means.

The Queen of Stags
Image courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

His cards have compositional elements that also occur in the Giant Bible of Mainz and the copy of the Gutenberg Bible in the Princeton Library.  Although there have been attempts to identify him as Gutenberg, it can only be postulated that Gutenberg knew of "The Master of the Playing Cards" and possibly worked with him.  The common design elements of both can be attributed to a design book for artists that may have been popular at the time.

Three of Birds

Efforts to positively identify "The Master of the Playing Cards" have been futile. His style resembles paintings from southwestern Germany and Switzerland of his time period.  He often uses depictions of the alpine cyclamen, also from that area. Some of the cards look to be composed of different plates that must have been held together in some sort of frame when printed.  This is another allusion to Gutenberg’s moveable type, which either shows collaboration or exposure to the same idea. Since copies of his suit symbols appear in datable manuscripts, the cards have been dated to circa 1440.

The Queen of Flowers
Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Some cards exist in two different states, and some in different versions. There are no numbers on the cards and the pips, or symbols, are different, which indicates that playing must have been difficult, especially quick playing.  Typical of northern European cards at that time, the cards have five suits:  beasts of prey, birds, deer, flowers, and wild men.  It is not know what card games were likely to have been played with these cards.

The King of Wild Men

The largest collection of the cards, forty of them, is in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris; fourteen more are in the Kupferstichkabinett in Dresden.  It is rare that works by "The Master of the Playing Cards" come on the market.  In September of 2006, in London, an impression of the "Queen of Flowers" was auctioned by Christie’s for $450,000.

A Poet Reading
Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Art

"The Master of the Playing Cards" also produced other works, mostly religious.  They are rather large for early engravings.  These were most likely intended as insertions to illustrate devotional books.  Most of his designs survive in copies by other printmakers, and there are no doubt works that didn’t survive at all.  It is unknown but possible that he produced paintings, but nothing that exists of that era has ever been acceptably attributed to him.

The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian
Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Although he, himself, remains unknown, his work places him in the forefront of the art of engraving, and attests to his artistry and skill.  "The Master of the Playing Cards" stands as the most accomplished and influential member of the first generation of engravers.

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Unless otherwise noted, all images are courtesy of Wikipedia.

An earlier version of this post was published on Booktryst.

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Tony Meeuwissen

Not many people this side of the pond have heard of Tony Meeuwissen, which is a pity.  One of those artists who never had formal training, his natural skills and abilities have served him well.

Instead of art school he served a five-year apprenticeship with a Rank Screen Services in London making commercials, then worked for various advertising agencies and design groups as a designer and art director before beginning his  freelancing career.

He has done various projects, from a Rolling Stones album cover, books (including his own), stamps, and the awesome The Key to the Kingdom transformation cards.  His covers for Penguin books are phenomenal, and one needs to remember that these were all done before the advent of computer illustration.

His work has been shown in galleries, and the Victoria and Albert Museum has purchased his works for its Department of Prints and Drawings.  One of his many awards is the Victoria and Albert Museum's illustration award.

He has also won two gold and two silver awards from The Designers and Art Directors Association (D&AD).  His Royal Mail stamps were voted the most popular British stamps.  In 1984 he won the Italian Francobollo d'Oro award for the world's most beautiful stamp.

But I think his most spectacular work are his playing cards.  Published by Pavilion Books in September 1992, the deck came with a book of corresponding verses.  There was a treasure hunt in this, and the winner won a golden key and $10,000.  The object of the hunt was to take an 18-line verse and decode it to select 14 cards.  Once the cards were selected and a familiar phrase found, the winner had to construct a verse applicable to the clues, including the names hearts, diamonds, club, and spades.  However, to my mind, the real treasure is the deck itself!

This deck is still available for sale, can be found on Amazon.

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Images copyright of the artist, used here for illustration purposes.

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Acey, Deucey, One-Eyed Jack

I, like most people, enjoy playing cards.  Unfortunately I don't play often enough, and it takes me a while to get my card chops back.  Except for poker.  I have the worst poker face ever.  I'm guessing my pout and displeased expression must give away a bad hand.  But if I have a good hand (and I always play with a little sheet my husband made me to remember what's what and what's higher) I'm like a dog being told that it's time for a walk.  Tongue hanging out, tail wagging, I can barely contain myself.  If I were a playing card, I'd be the joker.
  

Playing cards, like chess, are believed to have been invented in India.  The oldest Indian cards were divided into ten suits representing the ten incarnations of the god Vishnu.  They were round in shape and hand painted, and some even had thirty-two suits.  Ganjifa is a card game from Persia that was popular with the Mughals in 15th century India, but it’s not clear which influenced which, ganjifa or Indian cards.

Cards from a Dashavatara (Ten Avatars) Ganjifa set.  From top left across:
6 white horses with parasols  of the Kalki suit; four tigers  of the
Narasimha suit; seven tortoises  of the Kurma suit; 3 axes of the Parashurama
suit; minister on horseback of the Vamana suit; 3 ewers of the Vamana suit;
10 quivers of the Lakshmana suit; boar incarnation of the Varaha suit; 5 lotuses
of the Buddha suit; 6 peacock feather crown of the Taj (Crown) suit.
Rajasthan, India, 19th century,  LACMA.

Chinese playing card
found near Turfan,
c. 1400 CE
Museum fur Volkerkunde

Cards were found in China as early as the 9th century, during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE).  Ancient Chinese cards have four suits, and feature ideograms.  There is a suggestion that these early cards may have been a form of currency.  Modern Mahjong tiles possibly evolved from these.

How playing cards got to Europe is debatable.  Some say Marco Polo brought them back from China, but he seems to be the go-to guy for anything in Europe derived from Asia.  Most references state the Saracens introduced them.  They are mentioned in documents from the late 13th century in Europe.  Charles VI of France bought three decks of cards we know from a receipt from 1392.  (Mother always told me to save all receipts.)  They became very popular, were taxed, and had import restrictions on them.  There are some historians who claim that playing cards came from tarot cards, but the two types of cards developed independently.  (The use of the tarot deck exclusively for divination is in the U.S.  Other countries use the deck, usually with modifications, to play card games.)

The first cards were very expensive because they were made by hand.  In the 15th century woodcuts were used to create printed decks.  Most of these woodcut printed cards were hand colored.  Soon engraved cards appeared, which was an even more expensive process.  These are very collectable, as are playing cards in general, should you have too much money and wish to spend it on something.  (I have other ideas in this regard - just email me.)

The seven of hearts,
1803, from Metastasis, the first
complete set of transformed cards
published by John Nixon.

3 of cups, c. 1520
Topkapi Seray Museum,
Istanbul

It wasn’t until 1832 that Thomas de la Rue invented a typographic process that was used in making cards, and the “double-headed” cards became the standard.  These featured images that were duplicated in reverse, so they could be viewed from either end.  This was an important feature since prior to that astute players would be able to figure out how many court cards a rival had when s/he turned them right side up.

There are currently various types of playing cards within the many countries that use them.  The number of cards and suits differ; the English adopted the French deck.  The French deck originated circa 1480 CE, with four suits:  the trèfle, or club, mostly liked derived from an acorn; the pique, or spade, from the leaf used in German decks; hearts and diamonds, which are self-explanatory.

The court cards developed in the 15th century, representing European royalty.  Thus there were kings, queens, and knaves.  The knaves were changed to Jacks in the 17th century.  Primarily this change occurred when indices were printed on the corners of cards, so the player could fan his/her holdings in one hand and know what cards were there.  Since “K” (for king) and “Kn” (for knave) looked too closely alike, the change to “J” was thought to facilitate a quicker reading of the cards by the players.

In the earliest games the king was always the highest card, but in the 14th century the ace, then the lowest card, gained significance.  It is believed that by the 18th century, the French Revolution cemented that ace high concept as a symbol of the lower class rising above royalty.  The word ace was ultimately derived from the ancient Roman aes, the smallest unit of coinage.

A vehicle for a political statement, this card of
the French Revolution symbolizes brotherhood.
During this time Kings, Queens, and Jacks became
Liberties, Equalities, and Fraternities, as a good
revolutionary wouldn't associate with royalty.
This concept was reversed with Napoleon.

The U.S. introduced the joker into the deck, whose identity was similar to the fool in the tarot deck.  It was devised for the game of Eucre, which was very popular in the 19th century.  The name of the character is believed to have derived from juker, a different pronunciation of the game.  The standard deck of 52 cards includes 13 cards of each of the four suits, plus two jokers, which are removed for most games.  Although English or American decks differ from what is used in France, they are still considered French decks.

Image of the 3 of clubs from a deck called
The Key to the Kingdom  commissioned by
London's Victoria and Albert Museum of
Childhood, created by Tony Meeuwissen.
Set was published in 1992 and featured
nursery rhymes and poems.

Even though some of the design elements of the cards are rarely used in games they are notable.  The jack of spades, jack of hearts, and king of diamonds are featured in profile, and referred to as “one-eyed”.  “Acey, deucey, one-eyed jack” means that aces, twos, and one-eyed jacks are wild cards.  Since the king of hearts originally was the only king without a moustache and had a sword behind his head, it lead to his moniker of “suicide king”, or “false king”.  On some decks a closer look reveals that there are four hands, and the sleeves of the arm holding the sword don’t match his, meaning he is being murdered.  It turns out it is the arm of the queen of spades.  The explanation for this card seems to be lost.  There are many theories about just who these royal cards represent, but today’s cards have been distorted and carry no significance.  The following are some of the traditional references to the royal cards:

King of Spades            David

King of Hearts             Charles (possibly Charlemagne, or Charles VII)

King of Diamonds       Julius Caesar

King of Clubs              Alexander the Great

Queen of Spades          Pallas

Queen of Hearts           Judith

Queen of Diamonds     Rachel

Queen of Clubs            Argine (possibly an anagram of regina, which is Latin for queen,

Knave of Spades          Ogier the Dane/Holger Danske (a knight of Charlemagne)

Knave of Hearts           La Hire (comrade-in-arms to Joan of Arc/member of Charles VII's court)

Knave of Diamonds     Hector

Knave of Clubs            Judas Maccabeus, or Lancelot

Again, there are many other decks.  A 32-card deck is known as a piquet deck and used in Europe for games including Belote, the most popular card game in France.  Skat, the national card game of Germany, uses a similar deck.  A 48-card deck is popular in Japan.  But the most popular card game worldwide is bridge, although poker is probably catching up if it hasn't already.

Today, decks are inexpensive and available all over in the United States.  Cards have held on to their popularity since their introduction, and with the advent of children’s games, like Old Maid, most people grow up playing some kind of card game.  Of course, the most memorable one is the one you learned to play immediately the first time – 52 Pickup.  Even I remember how to play that, no crib sheet necessary.

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All images except as noted from Wikipedia

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