The 'tarot trumps' inspired by the Mamluk cards

Bernice

It is now pretty commonly known that the first/earliest known 'cards;' were the Mamluk cards (Playing card deck) derived from the Chinese money cards. After entering Italy and Spain they were re-imaged to depict the 'courts' as people as the Mamluks were forbidden to make images of people due to their religion.

A little later on the trifoni (now known as the Tarot Trumps) came into being, which were not always a set of 22 in number. Historical information re. these cards can be found here on the History thread and at various online museums (Trifoni etc).

There is much supposition and theory about an 'original' ordering of these trump cards because some of the very early cards either weren't numbered, or the numbering differed from deck to deck. Additonally some of the images differed.

From the mamluk cards onwards the pip & court cards have had a numerical sequence, so any and all 'number' theories and systems might be deemed valid. But why should the Trumps be numbered? I'm giving serious thought as to whether or not each trump image should remain un-numbered.

In Italy and Spain artists and painters were plentiful, and painted minatures were probably as common as photographs are today. It wouldn't be surprizing that the novelty of a 'set' of images - the mamluk cards - inspired artists and commissioners alike to create 'custom' sets of their own. A series of painted miniatures. I suspect that they were eventually ordered & numbered by card-players. And maybe taking their cue from the logical progression of the mamluk cards, they accorded a structure to their 'custom' sets, perhaps socially based, perhaps family, or perhaps their own world-view.

But I wonder what - if anything - they knew of the Mamluks. Did they know what these illustrated numbered cards originally represented, how they were used? Does anyone know?

And I wonder when and who united the 'custom' set and the (re-imaged) mamluk cards?

Bee :)
 

kwaw

Bernice said:
... the Mamluks were forbidden to make images of people due to their religion.
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Tolerance for represenational art in Islam (which in very strict terms may also include for example banning even the representation of cups, polo sticks, scimitars and coins, though it is more generally confined to figural representation, that is of things consisdered animated or possessed of a soul) varies greatly from region to region and period to period; Mamluk art does include representational (including figurative) art. The ban on representational art has always been more widely and strictly applied in reference to the depiction of religious subjects, but even with religious subjects there are numerous exceptions to the rule.

Some examples of Mamluk figurative art:

mamlukcavalry1366.jpg


Mamluk_1.jpg


13th_centurymamluk_manual.jpg


Kwaw
 

kwaw

An interesting aspect of the Mamluk card is the inclusion of emblematic verses, providing some (limited) parallel with later emblematic traditions but also with the first recorded games with tarocchi being linked with word games and the making of verses.

A "great favorite with Ottoman writers is the Tarikh, or 'chrongram'; that is, a piece of verse which expresses at once an occurence and the date of the same. All the letters of the Turkish alphabet have a numerical value*... If the numerical values of the letters occurring in a verse, a sentence, or even a word, on being added together, give the date of the event to which the words allude, that verse, sentence, or word is called a Tarikh. In poetical Tarikhs it is usually only the last line that contains the date, sometimes only certain of the letters in that line.(Ion&Gibb, p18)

A tarikh on the death of Andelib Khanim by Leyla Khanim

Andelib, th' adopted sister, from this transient
world hath flown,
Yonder midst the flowers of Eden whilst still in her
youth to stray.
No physician, neither charmer, on the earth her pain
could ease;
So that youthful beauty bided not to smile on earth's
mead gay.
With her two-and-twenty summers, cypress-like
was she, ah me!
But the sullen blast of autumn smote her life's bright,
lovely may.
For its tyranny and rancor might have blushed the vile,
hard Sphere,
As the sister of earth's Monarch pined in grief
without allay.
Though her kind friend never parted from her eye's
sweet, gentle beam.
Still did she to God her soul yield, and the call,
Return, obey.
Down the wayward Sphere hath stricken tht bright
Jewel to the earth;-
What avail though men and angels tears of blood shed
in dismay.
Length of days to that great Sultan grant may He,
the God of Truth!
And yon fair Pearl's tomb make rival His own
Eden's bright display!
With the dotted letters, Leyla, thou the year tell'st
of her death -
Cal amongst delightsome bowers may
'Andelib her nest array!
(Ion&Gibb, p.187/188)

This Qit'a is a tarikh on the death of Andelib Khanim, "Lady Nightingale", an adopted sister of Sultan Mahmed II. In the original the... 'dotted' letters, occuring in the last line, give on addition the date 1252 (1836), the year of the lady's death.
(Ion&Gibb, note 285).

We may find a similar practice on Jewish gravestones in which a phrase on the stone uses letters that taken as numbers form the date of death.

Kwaw
The Poets and Poetry of Turkey by Theodore P. Ion and E.J.W. Gibb.

*Ottoman Turkish was written primarily, but not exclusively, in a perso-arabic script; other scripts, such as greek or hebrew, were sometimes used, especially by non-muslims; the latin and armenian scripts were also used by some groups. Modern Turkish is written in a modified latin script.
 

Rosanne

Here for those who have not seen Mamluk cards...
http://l-pollett.tripod.com/cards64.htm


Venice had strong Economic and diplomatic relatioships with the Mamluks. For over 100 years it was Venices' main trading partner. Oneof the Venetian Doge was a Mamluk in the 15th Century.
Shipping documents reveal that Venetians exported large quantities of copper and brass to the Near East in return, they imported finished inlaid vessels- Mamluk basins, ewers, candlesticks, and incense burners found a place in the Venetian homes and churches, and some were even customized with the coat of arms of Venetian noble families. Local craftsmen admired the skill and design of Islamic metalwork too and frequently imitated it. It is thought that the type of Florals that are on the Visconti pips was influenced by this popular inlaid metal work.

Here is a snippet from the Musuem With No Frontiers
Throughout their rule, the Mamluks maintained close diplomatic ties with all the major European powers, Castile, Sicily, the Italian Republics and Byzantium among them, as well as with the Mongols and the Far East. At the highest level, the exchange of luxurious diplomatic gifts produced in Egypt and Syria underpinned and consolidated political ties. At the same time, international relations were also propagated through large-scale trade.
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As Andy's playing card site says, the connection between Mamluk cards and playing cards is too strong to ignore.

I like the idea Tarot was teaching game of verses and numbers- much more than I like it as an allegory in a sequence. Combine this with the Eastern Astrology and the Medieval/Renaissance Islamic art was at it's European fashion peak- voila! Tarot (maybe)
I am the lucky owner of some Mamluk cards now- I could only afford one deck. They are beautiful. Look up Mamluk Art on the web Bernice. great topic- thank you.
~Rosanne
 

Rosanne

It has lovely plates Kwaw, but they are more in the Military vein than the Art- but they do give some valuable things like the Heraldry. Cups, coins and scimitars in the main- I do not see many polo sticks.
I have been on the look out for a Mamluk Art book, with manuscript pages- but I have seen none in my neck of the woods. I saw a beautiful one in Cairo- but the size and weight was beyond me.(also it was in Arabic) I have the University bookshop looking for me- but no news so far. I did bring back a Venetian glass backed hairbrush done in Mamluk style from Venice. I think I must have Mamluk in my ancestry somewhere lol. Just love the style. It is perhaps why I am drawn to Gold leaf cards :D.
Some of the Persian illuminated manuscripts I saw on my travels are exquisite- but I could not see the Mamluk influence in the plate notations. I believe that Russian Museums hold many such books. I was told they came via the Germans after the war- who bought much in Cairo and other Arab lands.(Maybe took much)
~Rosanne
 

The crowned one

There is a very good book called Mongols and Mamluks the wars of 1260 to 1281. The Christian crusaders are, of course, brought up in the book. It is a great introduction to the politics, thoughts and ideologies of the Mamluks, and it has reasonably unbiased and contemporary writers being translated.
 

Rosanne

Tsk tsk, I meant to link this page....
http://www.manteia-online.dk/deckreviews/dr002.htm
because of this statement.
In 1970 another discovery took place. A Collector of Islamic art, Dr. Edmond de Unger, came across papers from the collection of a Mr. Jean Pozzi. Among the papers was one small piece, that proved to be a fragment of a small playing card, being a little more than half of the full card. This fragment is from the suit of cups, and it appears to be the four of cups. The card is remarkably smaller than the Mamluk cards and the remains of the decoration shows, that it is much simpler and sparser than the former cards. Despite the fragmentary condition experts in Islamic art were able to date this card of being late 12th century or early 13th century, and due to details in the decoration, late 12th century seems most likely.
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I have no idea how accurate this is but playing cards or teaching cards this early?
~Rosanne
 

kwaw

Rosanne said:
...but they do give some valuable things like the Heraldry. Cups, coins and scimitars in the main- I do not see many polo sticks.
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For anyone interested in the heraldry I recommend Saracenic Heraldry by Mayer, L. A.

Rosanne said:
... I like the idea Tarot was teaching game of verses and numbers-
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We may note that Boiardo's poem on the tarot includes play on numbers.
 
Roccabianca card-playing fresco Calandar 354 - The Months Script.