Printed in black ink on tan paper, twenty-four playing cards are arranged in three rows of eight that fill the horizontal sheet of this woodcut. Most of the cards in the middle and lower rows have Roman numerals in or near the upper left corner. The numbers count down from twelve, and are reversed. Each card in the top row shows a celestial entity or an imaginary being. The first card on the left shows an angel blowing a horn while hovering over a long horizontal box in which two people stand. Other cards have a stylized sun with a face, a crumbling stone tower on fire, or a man with horns…
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Playing Cards

Italian 15th Century

15th century

Medium
woodcut on laid paper
Classification
Print
Dimensions
sheet: 29.1 × 43.5 cm (11 7/16 × 17 1/8 in.)
Culture
Lombard
Museum
National Gallery of Art, CG-E
Credit line
Rosenwald Collection
Rights
Public domain (NGA Open Access, CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed

View at the National Gallery of Art

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