Hunting playing cards

Every card in this pack depicts a winter hunting scene from the reign of Tsar Alexander II created by the court artist Mihály Zichy (1827 – 1906). Zichy lived and worked primarily in St. Petersburg and Paris during his career. He would accompany Tsar Alexander II on his frequent hunting trips to the Gatchina Palace – a royal palace where the Tsar had built a hunting village and other facilities for his imperial hunting court.

Water colour paintings based on the artist’s sketches were created and placed into albums (now in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg). 52 of the water colours were selected and a pack of cards was created, but never published. The cards were, however, displayed in an exhibition at the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, in 2005. This pack appears to be an undated facsimile of the original, probably following the exhibition. A miniature playing card on the upper half of each card indicates its denomination.

Above: Hunting playing cards / “Okhotnich’i karty” with illustrations by the court artist Mihály Zichy (1827–1906). There is no indication of the publisher or date on the tuck box. 52 cards; there are no jokers, and the card dimensions are 86 x 53 mm.