A recent find of a playing card on the street reminded me that playing cards were immensely popular in the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. And obviously, one needed paper to produce them.
The earliest extant playing cards are from the 12th-century China and Korea. Similarly to paper, playing cards came presumably via Persia and the Arabian peninsula to Europe. In Italy, playing cards were used in the last third of the fourteenth century, as evidence suggests. Among the oldest extant playing cards we find the Stuttgart deck of cards, 49 of originally 52 playing cards measuring 12x19cm and depicting hunting themes painted on gilded background. The pasteboard was made of up to six layers of laminated pieces of paper.
Thanks to watermark research, Gerhard Piccard was able to date the Stuttgart deck of cards to c. 1430 and to locate the production of the paper used for the cards to Ravensburg.
Although modern playing cards are usually nowhere near as valuable as the Stuttgart deck of cards, they can depict important historical or cultural content, for example the Icelandic-Yule-lad-themed deck of cards illustrated by Brian Pilkington – perhaps a suitable last-minute Christmas present for some? Or do you regularly play card games during holidays?
We wish you a very festive season, lots of fun during card games, and a happy new year!
Further reading:
Lore Sporhan-Krempel, „Das Stuttgarter Kartenspiel,“ Börsenblatt für den Deutschen Buchhandel 15 (1959): 1151–1154.
„Stuttgarter Kartenspiel.“ Württembergisches Landesmuseum, https://bawue.museum-digital.de/series/167 (accessed 15 December 2024).
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