Old Bavarian pattern

An uncut sheet containing half of a set of 36 playing-cards of the Old Bavarian type, which has roots in the early 16th century. The cards are the twelve court cards, the four deuces, the 10 of leaves and the 7 of hearts. Several newer regional patterns, such the Bavarian, the Bohemian or Prague, the Franconian, the Salzburg and the Tyrolean patterns are derived from this. The images recall some 16th century German cards by Heinrich Hauk►

Above: uncut sheet of German-suited playing cards in the old Bavarian pattern, c.1790. The back of the sheet is printed in black with a pattern of fleurs-de-lis. The monogram M.S. (Michael Schatzberger, Passau) appears on the king of hearts. Image taken from Fisher (1946) where it is incorrectly assigned to Martin Schongauer.

REFERENCES

British Museum online: 1896,0501.1125►

Fisher, Margaret Sargent: The Devil's Picture Books, The Yale University Library Gazette, Vol. 20, No. 3 (January 1946), pp. 41-47

I.P.C.S. Pattern Sheet 53►

By Simon Wintle

Member since February 01, 1996

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Curator and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently living in Extremadura, Spain. Simon's first limited edition pack of playing cards was a replica of a seventeenth century traditional English pack, which he produced from woodblocks and stencils.