The Hat on the King of Cups

[le pendu]

In the Marseille Tarots and the Jacques Vieville, the King of Cups wears a very odd hat. I'm curious to know if any such hat/crown ever existed?

Here's a couple of examples of what I'm referring to:



TOP ROW: Vieville, Vandenborre,
SECOND ROW: Benois, Dodal, Conver
THIRD ROW: Noblet

I'm particularly interested in Jacque Vieville's version. Notice that the king wears a skullcap, has a round crown, and has "wings" that come out of the side. Could this be based on a crown that actually existed? Can we learn anything if we found such a crown?

It reminds me of Asia, and I'm not sure if I'm thinking of Shoguns or something?

Thoughts????

[Melanchollic]

I find the whole Court of Cups, particularly in the Vieville, to have an Asian touch. Both the Queen and Valet have turbans.

This fits nicely with my use of Cups as Elemental Air:

Air=Sanguin=Blood=Wine=Cup

Until the 19th century occultists reinterpreted Elemental Air as somehow reflective of Intellect, the Airy temperament, of course was traditionally all about drink, pleasure, romance, the arts, etc.

The sciences of the time associated Elemental Air with the Spring season (youthful pleasures) the Eastern direction (Asia).

[Abrac]

I seem to recall in The Authentic Tarot by Thomas Saunders there being quite a bit about the costumes worn by the court card figures. I no longer have my copy or I would look it up. Perhaps we'll get lucky and someone who has a copy will see this thread.

[le pendu]

Well, I searched for a couple of hours last night, and didn't get anywhere. I'm probably not the best Googler. I tried things like "History of Crowns", "Asian Crowns", "Historical Headgear".

I'd really like to identify these crowns on the Vieville, I think they might be extremely informative if we could find they actually existed.

I certainly see what you mean on the Queen... and see traces of it on the TdM: (Vieville & Dodal images)


A very similar cap is also on the Knight of Coins:


I'm not as certain about the Valet of Cups:


What paths can I explore? Suggestions?

[jmd]

I agree about the Eastern - and specifically Asian - 'touch' to the crowns, though this may not be from a directly Asian perspective, but rather a European depiction of the same. For example, consider the Chinese and Viet 'head-dress' such as the following:



Also, there was a fair amount of contact with China especially with the Portuguese and the Viennese from around the time of tarot's early development - and of course, the former empire of Ghengis Khan stretched into central Europe.

I suspect that various head-gear, combined with the expected crown (though imperial crowns were also used in China), results in this King's depiction.

[Le Fanu]

I know this may be a bit of a long shot, but it´s just what comes to mind; a few years ago whilst I was living in Brazil, I was researching Baroque sculpture, in particular a series of soapstone sculptures of prophets by Aleijadinho in Congonhas do Campo, Minas Gerais. Basically, he was an 18th century Brazilian sculptor (his name means "little cripple" and he most definitely was; he had to have his tools strapped to his hands and, unable to walk, was wheeled around on a trolley to complete his commissions which are quite something) who may or may not have visited Europe. Nobody knows. Anyway, his prophets have these extraordinary turbans and stylised oriental eyes, but their clothes are quite European-Baroque-drapery in style. I saw your post and thought of these, what with the turbans and eyes in the Vieville....This exotic mixture of European stateliness and what was thought to be Oriental.

In summary, I read a book by Germain Bazin (who was then a curator - or at least somebody important - of the Louvre I think) which had a kind of sourcing about Oriental headgear. A chapter on possible sources of the turbans in these extraordinary sculptures which have traces of both European art and also Oriental. Or maybe Byzantine? A bit like the Vieville really. I think that´s his name; I´ll have to check it. It was a fascinating essay. Basically, it was a way of conveying exoticism, and goes back to the 3 Magi tradition. I just remember that from the book there were quite a few Renaissance and early Baroque images which had western kings with turbans....

I need to look into this more. I still have the book, but it´s in Portuguese...

[Le Fanu]

I had a quick look through the book I was talking about and found this interesting story

Bazin traces exotic baroque headgear (for want of a better category) to a visit to Venice in January 1438 of King John VIII "Paeologo" (don´t know what this is) of Constantinople. He arrived with an entourage of philosophers, ecclesiasts and masters all dressed in a way the like of which Europe had never seen. Mention was made of their extraordinary headwear, and the sense of a King surrounded by thinkers, philosophers &c all dressed so exotically fired the imagination of artists at the time, and resurfaced in various paintings - see Gozzoli´s 3 Kings in the fresco of the Medici in Florence. (I have no scanner and the illustrations in the book are old and fuzzy. Sorry about this!). Pisanello made a medal (now in the National Library of Paris) commemorating the visit - late 15th Century - in which the monarch wears a weird half-crown, half-turban. with a bit of mitre thrown in. A bit "M-shaped" at the base. If abstracted could veer towards the Vieville kings! Certainly exotic and seemingly improbable. They arent identical to what we see in Vieville, but Im sure that Kings with extravagant headwear of far-flung lands, not just crowns, meant something for Vieville. The Queens almost certainly wear turbans...

This image of exotic headwear became copied and abstracted, appearing in a Piero della Francesca image of Constantino and other images of Pontius Pilate and King Mohammed throughout the 16th Century. Increasingly extravagant and unreal. And one writer (André Grabar) saw in this headwear "with distinctly Asian or Mongol? roots" a way of representing mythical status. With time, it came to symbolise monarchs with a "magical or Scientific air", and (Bazin states) "everything that was distant in time and space was brought together in these hats". I think also - for our Kings - Knowledge must be a key word. It was very common in engravings of Sibyls and prophets from the 16th century onwards to see these half-crowns, half-turbans, and they ended up looking nothing like original oriental headgear.

Im sorry I have no illustrations, but it´s just something I thought interesting...

[BodhiSeed]

Here's a picture on Wikipedia of him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_VIII_Palaiologos
Thanks Le Fanu, I've been following this thread with much curiosity and interest!

Bodhran

[Ross G Caldwell]

Originally Posted by bodhran

Here's a picture on Wikipedia of him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_VIII_Palaiologos
Thanks Le Fanu, I've been following this thread with much curiosity and interest!

Bodhran

Thanks Bodhran, I was thinking of that one by Gozzoli (on the upper right of the page), but I couldn't remember it.

There is an old tradition, as long as cards have been in Europe, of identifying the four suits with four Kingdoms of the world. I think that the King of Cups in the Vieville and TdM traditions is very much trying to make him an exotic "King of the East".

The more imaginative the headgear, the more exotic the figure is supposed to be. This survives today.

Ross

[Abrac]

There it is bodhran, thanks a million.

jmd, your picture is great as well, especially with regard to the Vieville.