The Painted Stuttgart cards, c.1430

ducks, falcons, stags and hounds...

Above: eight cards from the luxury, hand-painted Stuttgart Cards (Stuttgarter Kartenspiel) dated c.1430, with suits of ducks, falcons, stags and hounds suggestive of the chase. The pack originally contained 52 cards: the numeral cards (1 - 9 + banner card) indicated by repeating the suit sign. In the court cards, the suit symbols are depicted in a harmonious relationship with the human figures: ducks and falcons with male courts; hounds and stags with female court cards.		The background landscape representations feature topographical details such as grass, water and cliff formations, with the court figures depicted in a natural habitat rather than in abstract space. The colour scheme is simple in that all the cards have a uniform gold background and the figures are depicted in a subtle, soft "courtly" style. See also: "The Ambras Princely Hunting Cards"   The Flemish Hunting Cards.

Originally in the collections of the dukes of Bavaria, these are considered amongst the earliest surviving sets of playing cards. The cards are made from pasteboard consisting of up to six sheets of paper glued together, over which, on the front side, a layer of gesso was applied. Outlines of the designs were scratched into the surface, while some details were drawn in with pen and ink. The entire surface was gilded and the designs were then painted over the gold. The backs are painted dark red. The imagery in Hunting Books of the day, and on playing cards such as these which were destined for nobility, was often a parallel comment on moralia and human nature, although in this case the artist has portrayed the theme of hunting in a somewhat idyllic fashion with almost affectionate relationships between the female figures and the animals.

These cards were made by an unknown workshop in southern Germany, possibly Swabia. The artist has freely invented the suit symbols and the court hierarchy in relation to the theme of the courtly hunt.