The Ambras Court Hunting pack, c.1445
Nine cards from the Princely Hunting Pack, c.1440/45, attributed to Konrad Witz and his workshop in Basle. Found in a collection at the castle of Ambras in the 16th century, hence its name 'The Court Hunting pack of Ambras'.
The pack originally consisted of fifty-six cards in four suits, size 9.5 x 15.6 cm, painted red on the reverse. The cards are executed in watercolours and paints over black ink drawings on paper. The suit symbols are hounds, herons, lures & falcons. The court hierarchy consists of four court cards in each suit (similar to Italian tarocchi). The number cards go from 1 - 9, with a banner as 10. Banner 10s were often associated with South German cards in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and still found today in Switzerland.
The cards are notable for the functionally devised colour scheme. The consistent internal structure to the pack extends to the clothing as well as background colours of each suit. Another feature is the thematic consistency of the four suits which all relate to the theme of hunting, a pastime which was the prerogative of the nobility for whom the pack was probably designed. However, the cards can hardly have been used for play: they show no sign of wear and are unfinished.
In the years before the Renaissance reached the North, German bourgeois art began to embrace the external physical world: landscapes, human figures and animals are depicted in these playing cards. See also the hand-painted "Stuttgart Cards" and copper-engraved cards by the Master of the Playing Cards.