Erhard Schön, c. 1528

At least 41 of the 48 cards of this pack made by Erhard Schön around 1528 survive, spread across several collections. Structurally, it is a standard German pack, but with non-standard suit signs. Like in the slightly older pack by Sebald Beham, roses replace hearts and pomegranates replace bells so that all four suits grow from trees. It also shares the unusual shape of the leaves in that suit, but deviates even further from the norm by also replacing acorns with grapes.

In difference to that pack, the lower part of the pip cards contain satirical scenes like in the slightly later packs by Hans Leonhard Schäufelein and Peter Flötner. Small gaps between these and the upper part with the pips reveal that they are printed from separate plates. As the same is the case for the parts containing the suit symbols and the rest of the design in the tens and the court cards, this may indicate that the cards were originally designed with a different set of suits, which would also all have to be ones that could sprout from trees.

That this is not unique to this pack is demonstrated by the existence of twelve similar scenes corresponding to the lower part of cards ascribed to the same artist, alongside a thirteenth design possibly intended as a card.

Trauben
❖
Grapes		Laub
❖
Leaves		Rosen
❖
Roses		Granatäpfeln
❖
Pomegranates
Daus
❖
Deuce
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Unter
❖
Under-knave
Ober
❖
Over-knave
König
❖
King

The kings have names and titles at the bottom:

  • Grapes
    Imperatoꝛ Turcie Seuiſſimus
    The Emperor of Turkey, the cruellest

  • Leaves
    Rex Alexa̅der magnus pote̅tiſſimus
    King Alexander the Great, the mightiest

  • Roses
    (unknown)

  • Pomegranates
    Rex de Kalykut ditiſſimus
    King of Calicut, the wealthiest
    (Kalykut is not Calcutta, but Calicut, today known as Kozhikode)

Fragments

(Placed in card outlines by me)