Italian renaissance woodcut playing cards

Note that this section is not yet updated with information regarding packs other than from the main collections and the Fournier cards, such as the Bassano pack.

Similarities across packs

• Kings: With the exception of the elegant pack, all kings are seated on a throne underneath a stone arch. The tarot kings have a different style of arch from the rest, otherwise the style is similar across the packs. In the elegant pack only the tops of the cards are preserved. Here there are no arches, but the size of the heads in relation to the knaves suggests that the kings must be seated. A very narrow strip remaining of the right edge of one of the cards is consistent with thrones similar to those in the other packs, but not of the same designs.

  In the crude pack, the kings of swords and cups are inferior mirror-image copies of the Fournier cards. The remaining two are in a very similar style, but the king of coins' pose is more similar to its counterpart in the tarot pack. The reversed pack is even cruder in this instance. Here a queen takes the place of the king of cups, but has the same rank unlike in tarot packs.

• Knights: Here the variation is much greater. Most packs have mounts seen from the sides, and the heads of both rider and mount is sometimes in profile but more often turned towards the viewer. In the Fournier cards and to a lesser degree the elegant pack the mounts are seen diagonally so that they appear shorter, and there is more room for their heads. Only the tarots have the normal grassy ground underneath. In the elegant pack it is more elaborate, in the reversed and crude packs there are various other surfaces, and in the otherwise elaborate Fournier cards, the mounts seem to be floating in the air.

  In the tarot, the mounts in cups and batons have monstrous heads. No clear suit sign is present in the batons; it is only identifiable because the three other knights have clear suit signs. Its design is also atypical in that the rider faces away from the viewer. The crude pack has an identical knights of batons, while the three other knights are identical to those in the reversed pack (which has mirror-images in cups and swords). In coins and batons, the mounts are giant birds, possibly ostriches. Neither of these two packs have clear suit signs in batons and cups. One is identified as the knights of batons through the tarot as described above, the other one from the crude pack and the identical one from the reversed pack must then both be the knight of cups, and the final and unique one from the reversed pack must for the same reason be the knight of batons. This card has a human-headed mount, the body might possibly be that of a tiger.

• Knaves: The knaves are merely standing on the ground, holding their respective suit symbol. The ground is depicted as in the knights, except that three of the Fournier knaves have a simple line suggesting the horizon.

  The knave of cups in the crude pack is a copy of the tarot card. The tarot coins and reversed pack cups are female but have no other similarities. Beyond a similar pose in coins, the crude and reversed packs which have three knights in common are no closer to each other than to the other packs. Like in the tarot knight of coins, the suit symbol appears twice in the Fournier knave of coins; in the elegant pack it appears thrice.

• Aces: The non-tarot packs all have aces in a style similar to Tarot de Marseille and North Italian playing cards. The reversed pack have three slightly inferior reversed copies of the Fournier cards. The ace of coins is different, more similar to the crude pack, which in general has somewhat simpler designs. The elegant pack has entirely different designs in the same general style. The ace of swords from this pack is very similar to that in Tarot de Marseille, and would with the crown around the blade nicely complement the numeral cards of the tarot, the Fournier and the reversed packs.

  However, the two extant tarot aces have entirely unrelated designs, of which I know no close parallels. The ace of swords depicts a lion sitting on a grassy surface holding a curved scimitar, similar to that in the Fournier, reversed and crude packs, while the baton is held by a leopard. As the suit symbols of the two lacking aces are less suitable for holding than a sword or a baton, it is unclear if or how they would be held, as well as which animals they appeared with.

  The same general idea is also found in the Tarot de Paris aces, where heraldic animals hold banners with the suit symbols.

• Numerals:  Some packs have direct copies of the same design, while others have similar designs in the same general style. Numerals of each suit is described separately below.

• Swords: These are fairly well preserved in the tarot, Fournier and crude packs. The Fournier cards are copies of the tarot design, only with the edges slightly trimmed in order to fit on the narrower cards. The crude pack has a cruder design, differing chiefly in that the swords in the former two pass through an elaborate crown, while in the latter one they are instead tied together by a strip of textile.

  The layout of these cards in the main feature separating the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish playing card styles. These packs do not correspond to either of those, but might be seen as intermediate between the first two.

• Batons: These are very well preserved in the tarot, Fournier, reversed and crude packs. The Fournier cards are here not copies of the tarot cards, but have a slightly cruder design. The reversed pack has mirror-image copies of these, while the crude pack again has a yet cruder design.

  The shape of the batons is that used in Italian style cards, differing from those found in Portuguese and Spanish ones.

  All cards have their value spelled out in Italian on a central banner (even this text is reversed in the reversed pack). A more detailed analysis of these legends is available.

• Cups: These are well preserved in the elegant and the crude packs, and partially in the Fournier cards. The designs are all different, with the Fournier cards slightly cruder than the elegant pack, and the crude pack markedly cruder that the others.

• Coins: These are very well preserved in the crude pack and partially in the Fournier pack. Again, the crude pack has a markedly cruder design.