Nuremberg, XIXth century.
Pack of 78 cards (complete) with a black marbled back, preserved in a carton box from the end of the XIXth century. Black shagreen lettering piece gilt-stamped on the box.
Dimensions of the cards: 110 x 58 mm.
Pretty pack very pleasantly colored at the time, inspired from the exotic and oriental animal tarots of the XVIIIth century.
The figures are very well drawn and of large dimensions. The ensigns are hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs, and on the Jack of clubs we can see the name of the card maker I. Schenck. The jack of clubs has the usual attitude of the German card makers; he has his hand on a halberd. At the top and bottom of the cards representing the trumps there is a large Roman numeral indicating the value of the card; in the middle a scene represents an exotic or imaginary animal: dromedary, unicorn, leopard, lion, elephant, monkeys, bears… The king of diamonds indicates the city where the cards were made, Nuremberg.
The 78 cards were engraved on metal and stencilled at the time.
Precious example of a Tarot pack produced by a German card maker in the XIXth century, complete with its 78 cards stencilled at the time, in very good condition.
Provenance: two stamps on the ace of hearts, Deutsches Reich – Dreissig Pf., the second unidentified.
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