Playing Card: Chavalier (The Knight)
Artist
Master of the E-Series Tarocchi
(Italian, active about 1465)
Dateabout 1465
Mediumengraving on cream laid paper
Dimensionstrimmed on the platemark: 18.2 x 10.4 cm (7 3/16 x 4 1/8 in.)
ClassificationsPrints
Credit LineStoddard Acquisition Fund
Object number2005.68
Label TextPlaying cards and printing were both introduced to Europe from Asia in the late 1300s, and this card is a very early surviving example of both. New printmaking technologies like woodblocks, engraving, and moveable type made possible the mass production of books and artworks, driving down prices and fueling demand.
This card is number 6 in a deck of fifty, divided into five “suits”: E. Human Conditions, D. Apollo and the Muses, C. Liberal Arts, B. Cosmic Principles, and A. The Heavens. The deck was probably used for a trick-taking game, but also served an educational purpose.ProvenanceBritish Museum duplicate; Samuel Josephowitz, Lausanne and Whitchurch-on-Thames; purchased from Robert M. Light & Co., Santa Barbara, CAOn View
Not on view
