Tarot de Trieste; the forgotten deck

Greg Stanton

SolSionnach said:
I still think he wasn't referring to the ace/cups - perhaps you can persuade me that that is the case? ;)

Well, no, see my post above. Huson was most definitely referring to where the holy water is kept — the Ace of cups looks exactly like a Gothic font — the kind you would find in a cathedral.

Using "font" to refer to a style of lettering is a modern corruption of the word. It means "a specific size and style of a type" (usually lead), never just the name of the typeface itself.

Besides, "Gothic" in typography does not refer to those dark, fancy, olde-English styles of lettering that look like formal calligraphy -- that is called "Blackletter". "Gothic", referring to type, means modern sans-serif. Seriously.
 

Le Fanu

"pages 203-297 are not part of this book review". I just keep getting this when I get *near* to page 279. I wonder whether different pcs have different sample pages?

I can see a lot of different pages but not the page you refer to. No probs. My copy should arrive this week...
 

kwaw

SolSionnach said:
I still think he wasn't referring to the ace/cups - perhaps you can persuade me that that is the case? ;)

He was referring to the ace of cups as representing a baptismal font:

“Aside from their French titles, you can recognize Lombardy-pattern decks from several characteristic features: the Devil generally wears a pair of furry pant, the Moon is depicted full face, Justice is winged, the Ace of Cups is depicted as a Gothic font, and the King and Queen of Coins wear unmistakable and idiosyncratic crowns. Examples of decks using this pattern were produced by card makers in Bologna, Modena, Paua, and Trieste, among other places.”

http://books.google.com/books?id=dV...kdIa3gAO1gswHY&hl=en#v=onepage&q=font&f=false
 

Le Fanu

thank you for that, kwaw...
kwaw said:
and the King and Queen of Coins wear unmistakable and idiosyncratic crowns.
Certainly true. There are some extraordinary crowns in the Bologna decks, particularly in the Coins suit. See here from this Tarot de Trieste. Weird, with flaps hanging down and over and sticking outwards. And what are those jagged things to the left? Where on earth did they get the inspiration for this headwear?

But let's not forget, the Vieville has some wonderful headwear too. We had a discussion on this once in the History forum; the Oriental, Turkish, influence, the turban on the Queen of Swords.

(Vieville always ends up being the reference ;))

Headwear in tarot deserves a chapter of its own...
 

Niclas

Le Fanu said:
(...)
Headwear in tarot deserves a chapter of its own...

True.
And I must confess, I just did not note the lemniscate on strength in the TdT before you mentioned it.
 

PTAH

Tarot de Trieste identification

Le Fanu said:
I am currently expecting in the mail this gem of a deck. It has intrigued me for a while now, mainly for being the only historical deck on Albideuter which I don't have nor do I ever remember it being published. How on earth did this slip under the radar?

It is a beautiful deck, some cards are vaguely Bolognese in style. Others less so; the Fool is oddly expressive (is that a dog or a cat hanging off his tunic?) and quite dissimilar to the other Bolognese decks. The beautiful Two of Cups, with its exquisite blood blots on the foliage, says it was produced by the factory of Angelo Valla. Other than that, I have no other information. I don't have it in my hands yet, so I cannot give any more details. A search for either Trieste/Angelo Valla brings up nothing. To my knowledge, it hasn't been mentioned here. Someone must have this deck; can anyone tell me anything about it? There must be some historical deck fans out there who know something about it. Who published it and when?

Come on, get me excited for its arrival!

Hi Le Fanu,

I came across the following information about this deck (for what it's worth) in the catalog of the Fournier Museum "Exhibition: Tarots of Yesterday and Today":

"Lombard tarot 'Valla'. Made by Angelo Valla in Trieste (Italy), c. 1790. Obverse: rococo motifs, vine arbour shaped, crowned by a kind of barred shield; legend: 'In Trieste'; all in pale rose on a cream background. Spanish-type, with seventy-eight cards. Square corners. 'Michiate' edge. 111x57 mm."

The photo they show displays three cards from their collection that exactly match those in the Albideuter scan, so it's definitely the same deck. Maybe, if you emailed them, Fournier could provide you with the info you want:
museonaipes@alava.net
 

Freddie

Hi Le Fanu,

Looks like a great deck!!!!!

Freddie
 

Le Fanu

PTAH said:
"Lombard tarot 'Valla'. Made by Angelo Valla in Trieste (Italy), c. 1790. Obverse: rococo motifs, vine arbour shaped, crowned by a kind of barred shield; legend: 'In Trieste'; all in pale rose on a cream background. Spanish-type, with seventy-eight cards. Square corners. 'Michiate' edge. 111x57 mm."

The photo they show displays three cards from their collection that exactly match those in the Albideuter scan, so it's definitely the same deck. Maybe, if you emailed them, Fournier could provide you with the info you want
Thank you so much for that. Obverse I presume means backs? My backs are a standardised red "dotty" pattern. I may well get in touch with them and see if they can give me any further information...

(and what's a "michiate" edge?)
 

Niclas

111 by 57 mm means that the reproduction dicussed here is quite exactly the same size as the original cards - nice :D