A luxury silk and brocade deck

The Maker

There is no information on the present deck of cards about its maker, but the nature of the materials used demonstrate that he or she must have been working for some extremely wealthy clients.

The Cards

The present cards are uniquely luxurious, each one being comprised of layers of coloured silk and brocade laid between two sheets of paper. The different layers of fabric give the images added depth, which reinforces the sense of meticulous craftsmanship.

The janiform eagle, which had been a symbol of the German emperors since the fifteenth century, points towards a German origin for these cards. Indeed, Hargrave records another deck of silk trappola cards from the seventeenth century which appear to have been made in Germany. These handmade cards are apparently unique.

MORTIER, Pieter [Heraldic playing cards].

Publication [Netherlands, Pieter Mortier, c1690].

Description

52 engraved playing cards with text, versos blank.

Dimensions

86 by 55mm (3.5 by 2.25 inches).

References

Hargrave pp.61-62, van den Bergh pp.46-47; for similar see Yale 2584/FRA284.

The Maker

Pieter Mortier (1661-1711) was an engraver from Leiden. In 1685, Pieter Mortier founded a map publishing group in Amsterdam, and in 1710 he produced a set of cartographic playing cards. The four suits of this deck each featured a different continent, with the individual cards displaying a map of various countries or regions. After travelling to Paris in the early 1680s, he was awarded the right to publish the maps of French cartographers in Amsterdam. On his death, Mortier’s business was inherited by his sons and continued in partnership with another publisher until the 1780s, by which time the company had a monopoly over the production of cartographic playing cards.

The Cards

Possibly one of the most copied decks of playing cards is the heraldic deck made by Claude Oronce Fine de Brianville in 1655. After the original deck was published, many versions were produced across Europe, including the present deck by Pieter Mortier. Although de Brianville’s original deck was issued with an explanatory manual, Mortier does not appear to have published such a document.

The cards bear the coats of arms of Europe’s royal and aristocratic families, along with text that explains and describes them in French. The Prince of Spades, for example, shows the English Royal family represented by the Order of the Garter, one of the oldest orders of the knighthood in Europe. The order’s motto of ‘Honi soit qui mal y pense’ (‘Shame to those who think badly of it’) is prominently displayed around the crest. The Papal coat of arms displayed on the King of Clubs is that of Pope Clemens IX, who held the office from 1667 until 1669. The value of each card is contained within a suit mark in the upper left corner.