Giovanni Battista Marcovich

From the legacy of Lady Charlotte Schreiber, the British Museum acquired in 1896 (among others) a collection of nineteen cards from the workshop of Giovanni Battista Marcovich of Trieste. The cards are printed from woodcuts and secondarily coloured with stencils. They are provided with paper borders around the edges which have been folded over from the back paper. This artisanal method of manufacture was common at this time in the north Italian cultural area.

Above: 14 cards from Triestine pattern by Giovanni Battista Marcovich, c.1855. © The Trustees of the British Museum

It is clear that the cards come from several different sets, four according to the Museum description, distinguished by the reverse side, which unfortunately is not available. The reverse should be printed in blue, with the motif of two men and a lobster on the seashore.

Trieste cards were commonly produced in sets containing 52 or 40 cards. The preserved fragments do not allow us to clearly identify from which size packs they come; they do not contain cards with values 8, 9 and 10, which are only part of a 52-card deck.

Above: 5 cards from Triestine pattern by Giovanni Battista Marcovich, c.1867. © The Trustees of the British Museum

G. B. Marcovich is considered the original creator of the Trieste pattern as presented in this early form. The cards already contain typical features that can be considered formative: the two-headed design of the court cards with descriptive strips in the middle of the card. The numerical index of the card value on all cards (which is not always located in the upper right corner).

Two of the aces contain mottoes: Ace of Coppe: OGGI DIVAL MOLTO PIO - IL DENARO CHE LA VIRTU; (Today, money is worth much more than virtue). Ace of Spade: LA SPADA CORREGGE - CHE OFFENDE LA LEGGE; (The sword punishes those who break the law). One of the surviving aces of cups bears, in addition to the motto and the manufacturer's name, the year 1855, and represents a direct connection with the presumed time of the creation of the independent Trieste pattern. The second ace is dated (1)867 and bears a tax stamp used in Austria from 1858 to 1877. Instead of the maker's name, it bears the inscription LA SPERANZA / TRIESTE as well as the motto. It is not clear whether all the cards in this collection originate from G. B. Marcovich.

Notes & References

British Museum : 1896,0501.132►

O’Donoghue, Freeman M: Catalogue of the collection of playing cards bequeathed by Lady Charlotte Schreiber (Italian 123), Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1901 [digital version here]

Trieste pattern by IPCS : pattern sheet 36►