The 'tarot trumps' inspired by the Mamluk cards

Debra

Here's what I was remembering, from the "tarot news" column on the right of the AT "cards" page:

"July 21st, 2008

For something differenmt, see the Persian version of Tarot cards, the Fal-e Hazfez Cards. " which included this link: http://www.persianmemories.com/tarot/fal-ehafez.html
 

Rosanne

Ewwww! Debra those cards bring out the magpie within! Thanks for the link.

Crowned One: I am with you on that, like Kwaw mentioned earlier with We may note that Boiardo's poem on the tarot includes play on numbers.
I think games such as these were stuff of Tarot. Maybe also a sort of astrological game as well- like "Who will I marry?" and drawing a number of cards about the possible person and qualities. Women and girls would love that! No matter the year- we have not changed that much. (No need to get into sexism lol)

I have a little book printed in 1909 Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam translation by Edward Fitzgerald. On each page is a excerpt from a poem and an illustration of either a Cup/Coin/Sabre/tree branch with leaves
For example excerpt of Cup verse
Come ,fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring
The Winter garment of repentance fling
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly- and Lo! the bird is on the wing.

Coin verse..
Then said another "surely not in vain my substance
From the common Earth was taken
That he who subtly wrought me into
shape
Should stamp me back to common Earth again"

Sword Verse..
Tho pearls of worship I ne'er strung for thee
Nor cleansed my fate of sin's foul stain, I see
Hope thou mayst yet forgive me all, because
I never counted One as two or three..

Branch verse....
The moving finger writes,
And having writ, moves on
Nor all Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.

~Rosanne
 

Bernice

Hello people, wonderful responses.... :)

Thank you Kwaw for those Islamic images/links and information. After reading through the postings thus far it would seem that the islamic Mamluks were not quite the same as the islamic Persians. As you have said, the practices etc. differed from area to area. But the Persian art is lovely.

Rosanne:
Venice had strong Economic and diplomatic relationships with the Mamluks. For over 100 years it was Venices' main trading partner. One of the Venetian Doge was a Mamluk in the 15th Century.
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If the Mamluks spanned 1250 - 1517, does this mean that the relationship with Venice was in the 1400s, or 1300s or perhaps earlier?. The link for your book is dated 1315 (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/07/wae/ho_57.51.23.htm). What a great libarary you have Rosanne!

The crowned one:
There is a very good book called Mongols and Mamluks the wars of 1260 to 1281....
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Ahh! So the Mongol wars were in the 13th century....

Ross:
....most people who speculate on the transmission of playing cards to Persia, India and the middle East think (the Mongol war) was the agent....
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If, as speculated, the cards went from the Mamuluks via the Mongol wars to Persia, India and the Middle East during (the latter part of?) the 13th century, I'm now wondeing if any Mamluk-influenced cards were produced in Venice, perhaps the early 1400s ??? I don't know of any Venetian decks. Anyone?

Debra:
I could swear there is a reproduction of the Mamluk cards now available and listed in the cards section of AT, but I can't find it for the life of me.
Rosanne:
It was in that urgent sale because someone was broke Debra. Long thread.
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Sad about that....

Rosanne:
I hope Bernice is enjoying the thread!
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LOVING IT! :) :) :)

The crowned one:
Yes it does.(Re. Rosannes prayer-mat suggestions) I do have a few pages of notes but nothing solid. To be honest I feel it may have, like language, been a child's "made up game" that was played on the carpet, expanded on by adults and put onto portable cards.
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Is this prayer-mat/carpet idea applicable to the Mamluks?

Roseanne I have a copy of the Omar Khayyam - the 'literal' version. It's nothing like the Fitzgerald one. Very down-to-earth, practical.

As I mentioned earlier, has anyone seen or found Mamluk-inspired Venetian cards?

Bee :)
 

Rosanne

Bernice said:
If the Mamluks spanned 1250 - 1517, does this mean that the relationship with Venice was in the 1400s, or 1300s or perhaps earlier?. The link for your book is dated 1315 (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/07/wae/ho_57.51.23.htm). What a great libarary you have Rosanne!
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Sorry Bernice I should have been clearer- The Mamluks ruled Egypt between 1250 - 1517. As a distinct group they started off in Bagdad as child slaves captured from North of the Black Sea from what used to be called Russia. This was in the 9th and 10th Centuries. So they became Muslim and were loyal to their Masters, because basically they were not tribal- they were not family as it it were- so they could fight without bias. They became soldiers, partially because once trained they were no longer 'slaves', but they then became powerful as a separate group. The height of their trade with Italian states (no such thing as Italy then) was right at the time of Tarot's beginning, and then the Ottomans took Constantinople in 1453 and citizens escaped to the Italian states taking their treasures with them. The Ottomans captured Egypt in 1517.
I have not the Mechanical Clock book Bernice- wish I had! It was an indication of Mamluk art in manuscripts.


If, as speculated, the cards went from the Mamuluks via the Mongol wars to Persia, India and the Middle East during (the latter part of?) the 13th century, I'm now wondering if any Mamluk-influenced cards were produced in Venice, perhaps the early 1400s ??? I don't know of any Venetian decks. Anyone?
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I think of Mamluks more in Art style than actual cards.For example the pips of the Visconti are more reminiscent of Eastern floral work- like the Mamluk cards than the sparse florals on the TdM. The gilding for instance- but of course the Visconti were hand painted- not woodblock.

Is this prayer-mat/carpet idea applicable to the Mamluks?

Rosanne I have a copy of the Omar Khayyam - the 'literal' version. It's nothing like the Fitzgerald one. Very down-to-earth, practical.
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Well the Mamluks were Muslim- so yes to prayer mats.
I have no other copy of the Omar Khayyam- so I will look at modern translations. The one I have is Victorian- so I guess it is reflected in translation.

Look at Visconti 3 Swords for example
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/visconti-sforza/
The TdM has the shapes of the Mamluk scimitars though. Well it was such a melting pot in the Renaissance. Much of Venice has an Eastern flavour in decoration- and of course there is the glass industry. Look to the Military Men and you will see the Venetian influence throughout the Renaissance- Sforza was a mercenary as were most of the New Landed gentry. The Italian states did not have their own particular armies- they hired their military. So sometimes they fought against the Venetians and sometimes for them.

~Rosanne
 

Bernice

Many thanks Rosanne for your posts - very enlightening, I'm so pleased you're here. You prompted me to 'search' for Venetian art online in the hopes of finding an actual deck (or few example cards) specifically from the city of Venice itself.
Here's a snippet from http://arthistory.about.com/cs/arthistory10one/a/ven_ren.htm

ART: The Venetian School - 1450 - 1600

Just as with Florence, Venice was a Republic during the Renaissance. Actually, Venice was an empire that controlled land in modern day Italy, a whole lot of sea coast down the Adriatic and countless islands. It enjoyed a stable political climate and thriving trade economy, both of which survived outbreaks of the Black Death and the fall of Constantinople (a major trading partner). Venice was, in fact, so prosperous and healthy that it took someone named Napoleon to undo its empire status...but, that was quite a while after the Renaissance had faded away and had nothing to do with art.
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So a notable Venetian school of Art existed, but it's students were spread across a large area. I should therefore perhaps be looking for early card images which show the distinctive Venetian approach to colour. Rosanne, you said the same thing = examine the Art Style. Where are our Art Historians who can take an image to pieces and explain the various influences that went into it's completed creation?
..............
Here at AT there's a Venetian Historical Tarot (22 Trumps only) with illustrations of the city of Venice in the Renaissance.
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/venetian-historical/index.shtml#cards

One online source speculates that the cards were introduced to Europe by a Venetian, possibly Niccolò Polo or his more famous son, Marco, during travels to and from China in the latter half of the 13th century.

Hmmm............ I can only find obscure and fragmentary information re. the movement and re-imaging of the Mamluk cards (As Ross has said). I'm hoping the crowned one is having more success with the relaxed/laid-back approach :)

Bee :)

Marseille
 

Rosanne

Hi Bernice- have you visited this site?
http://l-pollett.tripod.com/cards64.htm
and http://trionfi.com/01/j/
and Tarotpedia?

The first link is Andy's Playing card site- it is great for old cards and history- look up regional Tarot. See what you can find.

I love Trionfi as well.

Also google Illumination and miniatures with emphasis on Italy. (well Italian states). I have been trying to find examples of Northern Italian Renaissance 'Books of Hours'. There are also some (believe it not) beautiful illustrated Korans out there- with figures etc. Tarot might be a small field- but it introduces amazing history in art and pastimes. The Renaissance Italians had a passion for what we call scrap booking today. You could buy cards or images to stick in your scrapbook. Florence has a huge treasury of them- but I only saw two written by and drawn in by prisoners awaiting punishment. They were to be passed onto their families after they had been tried and murdered, with lots of family history, poems, plays etc. Political prisoners were usually educated, but you could hire a writer etc for your scrap book.
I saw a small one that belonged to Francesco Sforza when he was imprisoned by Visconti, but at a distance- I could not make out details.

I have found the more you look..the more you look lol.
~Rosanne
 

Bernice

Ah! Rosanne, Andys' site was where I first came across the Mamluk cards. They so impressed me that I created a 'modern' version of them (for myself). I didn't do those beautiful intricate florals but used the mamluk emblems.

And yes.... I too love Trifioni :).
But much as I enjoy ferreting out all those historical details and dates, I cannot seem to retain them all. After mulling & enthusing over them, they drift away - like recipe & knitting pattern details after I've moved in some other direction. I know I've been there.... but need reminders for recollection!
(search for) Illumination and miniatures with emphasis on Italy. (well Italian states).
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This I will do - thank you for the search terms. The Books of Hours sound a promising avenue, and some of those Korans do have truly beautiful illustrations.

Somewhere here indoors I have a book about carpets - persian etc (the old expensive ones that I'm never likly to own), I'll look it out and examine the patterns.

Bee :)
 

Moonbow

Excellent thread! Thanks for starting it Bernice.

I have been reading up on the Mamluks and the cards for the last few days, with even more reading still to do. I see the likeness between the Venetian/Italian artwork in the cards too.
 

Bernice

Found the 'carpet' book. It has a number of plates with lots of different oriental pattern designs. Carpet patterns with the intricate vine/flower design (like the mamluk cards) which evolved into the 'paisley' motif, have the name prefixed by "mir", a classic element called 'boteh', also referred to as a pear, a leaf, a pine-cone or a palm. (pine-cone?).
There is only one plate/picture with this prefix, Mir-Sarouk. Rather plain body with a 'floral' border. Most of these beautiful carpets are dated from the 15th and 16th century - not earlier.

The Omar Khayam literal translation: I've put a few scans of the book here;

http://tazmaria.multiply.com/photos/album/3/Omar

Bee :)
 
Roccabianca card-playing fresco Calandar 354 - The Months Script.