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MINISTÈRE DE L'ÉDUCATION NATIONALE, DE L'ENSEIGNEMENT SUPÉRIEUR ET DE LA RECHER

MINISTÈRE DE L'ÉDUCATION NATIONALE, DE L'ENSEIGNEMENT SUPÉRIEUR ET DE LA RECHERCHE BULLETIN DE L’INSTITUT FRANÇAIS D’ARCHÉOLOGIE ORIENTALE en ligne en ligne en ligne en ligne en ligne en ligne en ligne en ligne en ligne en ligne BIFAO 38 (1939), p. 113-118 MAYER (Leo Ary) Mamluk playing cards [avec 5 planches]. Conditions d’utilisations L’utilisation du contenu de ce site est limitée à un usage personnel et non commercial. Toute autre utilisation du site et de son contenu est soumise à une autorisation préalable de l’éditeur (contact AT ifao.egnet.net). Le copyright est conservé par l’éditeur (Ifao). Conditions of Use You may use content in this website only for your personal, noncommercial use. Any further use of this website and its content is forbidden, unless you have obtained prior permission from the publisher (contact AT ifao.egnet.net). The copyright is retained by the publisher (Ifao). Dernières publications IF 955 Actes de vente d'esclaves et d'animaux d'Égypte médiévale 2 Yusuf Ragib IF 954 Le développement du soufisme en Égypte à l'époque mamelouke - The DevelopmeCntollectif (édité par Richard McGregor et Adam of Sufism in Mamluk Egypt Sabra) IF 953 Mons Claudianus III - Survey and Excavation Valerie A. Maxfield - David P.S. Peacock IF 952 Mythes et légendes du Delta d'après le papyrus Brooklyn 47.218.84 Dimitri Meeks IF 950 Port-Saïd - Architectures XIXe-XXe siècles Collectif IF 948 Bulletin critique des Annales islamologiques 21 Collectif © Institut français d’archéologie orientale - Le Caire MAMLUK PLAYING CARDS BY L. À. MAYER. Most historians are agreed that the European playing cards are of Oriental W and according to some, more specifically, of Saracenic origin, or that— although invented in the Far East—they were received by the Europeans from Saracenic handsf2). It is surprising, therefore, that—unless I mistake— not a single pack of Arabic playing cards has ever come to light ^. This very (1> We need not discuss theories about cards having been invented in the Ancient East, o. g. Nicolas DE LA MARE, Traité de la Police, Paris, Jean et Pierre Got, 1705-1735, vol. I, p. 4£7; or LE GENDRE , Mœurs et coutumes des François, Paris, Collombat, 1712, p. 267, both of whom believed that cards were first made by the Lydians, nor argue about the Egyptian origin of playing cai'ds, as exposed by COURT DE GEBELIN, Monde Primitif ou Dissertations mêlées, 1.1, Paris, 1781, Diss. VI, p. 365-410, as few scholars seem to take them seriously. Among the few contemporaries, however, who apparently do, mention should be made of Emiliano di PARRATICWO , Three packs of Italian tarocco cards (in Burlington Magazine, vol. Ill, Dec. 1903, pp. 287-251, l\ pis.); Lord DESBOROUGH in The Times of 3rd March, 1938, and—if I understand him rightly—ZOVELLO , History and Origin of Playing Cards, New-York, 1 g35, a work I have not seen myself. (3) To quote a small selection only : BKNETON DE PEYRINS, Dissertation sur Vorigine des jeux de hasard (m. Mercure, Septembre 1788, pp. 1908- 1925, reprinted in G. LEBER, Collection des meilleures dissertations, t. X, Paris, G. A. Dentu, i838); Joh. Goltl. Imman. BREITKOPF, Versuch, Bulletin, t. XXXV1H. den Ursprung der Spielkarlen, die Einfihrung des Leinenpapieres, uni den Anfang der Holzschneide- kunsl in Europa zu erforschen, Leipzig, 175^; James BARRINGTON, Observations on the antiquity of card playing in England (iu Archœologia, vol. VIII, 1787, pp. i34-i46); William Andrew CHATTO , Facts and speculations on the origin and history of playing cards, London, John Russell Smith, i848, vm + 363 p., 3a pis.; Paul LACROIX, The Arts in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, trsl. from the French by James Dafforne, London, Chapman and Hall, 1870, gth section; E. EITELBERGER V. EDELBERG, Uber Spielkarten (in his Gesammelte Kitnslhislorische Schriften, vol. Ill, Wien, Braumiiller, i884, pp. 262-322); HIMIY, Morgenlcindisch oder Abe>id-lândisch (in ZDMG., XLIII, 1889, p. 4i5); Mrs. John King van RENSSELAER, The Devil's picture-book, London, 1892, vm + 207 p.; Encyclopedia Italiana, s. v. Carte da giuoco; GARY, Gutenberg-Jahrbuch, 1938, p. 38. l3) I have searched for them in many museums and private collections, as well as in the best works on the subject. But all I could find by way of Oriental cards were Persian or Indian packs, nothing Egyptian or Saracenic. i5 BIFAO 38 (1939), p. 113-118 MAYER (Leo Ary) Mamluk playing cards [avec 5 planches]. © IFAO 2005 BIFAO en ligne http://www.ifao.egnet.net —+8.( 114 )*-.—• absence has been used as a challenge by those who believe in the European origin of cards (') as opposed to the protagonists of the Oriental theory. The more important, therefore, is the almost complete pack of cards which is exhibited to-day in the treasury of the Top Kapu Saray in Istanbul ^ as models of late medieval design, along with other Egyptian works of art. These cards were discovered among various other articles of the Palace, and nothing is known of their previous history. They are in a fairly good state of preservation , as one can see from the selection shown on pis. X-XIV. Mice have nibbled at them, but not loo destructively; to a certain extent the paint has crumbled away owing to time and rough handling, but only one card is so badly torn as to preclude any guessing as to what it represented. Nevertheless, it is doubtful whether these cards were used for any length of time, unless we assume that in those days players had unusually clean hands and did not leave any of those greasy and dirty fingermarks with which we are familiar on our own packs after they have served a while. Like the best of early European cards they are hand-drawn and painted. The pack consists of two different sets, the cards shown on pis. X-X1I, XIII», XIVa, representing the main set, and a few others (cf. pis. XIII6-X1V6) which are drawn by a much cruder hand, probably made merely to replace the missing cards of the main set!3). The cards vary slightly in size, but we can consider o m. 2 6 2 X 0 m. Q5 as a safe average. Those of the main set are of discreet colours-blue, black , gold and pink of delicate tints, the writing being invariably in gold on a blue background. The others are not only cruder in design, but also louder in colour, with a predominating touch of green. All have plain backs. (l) There are at least two distinguished Ara-bisls among them, cf. DOZY et ENGELMANN, Glossaire des mots espagnols et portugais (2nd éd.), 1869, p. 385; CARRA DE VAUX in the Encyclo-pœdia of Islam, s. v. kimâr : "It is said without any good reason to have come from the Arabs". <2) I take this opportunity of thanking Mr. Talisin Oz, Director of the Top Kapu Saray Miizesi, for all the facilities afforded me when studying these cards as well as many other objects in his museum. (1) The other possibility, that they belong to a different and independent pack and only happen to have been found together, is less likely, in view of the fact that they are of exactly the same size as the cards of the main set, and show only such figures and numbers as are missing among the others. BIFAO 38 (1939), p. 113-118 MAYER (Leo Ary) Mamluk playing cards [avec 5 planches]. © IFAO 2005 BIFAO en ligne http://www.ifao.egnet.net —„.( 115 ).**— The pack consists of at least five suits : the cup, the coin, the sword, the polo-stick and the staff. It is obvious that pi. XIV b (of which we have two specimens in this set) is only a variation of the staff, as conceived by the other designer, a shape which became typical for the Italian cards. There is also an odd card, with a crescent as its only figure. This may or may not have been the Islamic equivalent of the joker. The two best preserved suits are those of the cup and the coin, and by putting them together, we can surmise that each suit originally consisted of four court-cards and ten numerals. The court-cards represent a King(ma^), a Governor (naib), a Second-Governor (naib thânl) and one of his Helpers (ahad al-arkan). They are indicated not by actual drawings of these persons, but by inscriptions which are placed, invariably, at the bottom of each court-card. As a rule the mark of each suit appears on the court-cards only once and occupies practically all the space available, notable exceptions being the Governor of cups, displayed on a card showing two cups, and the Governor of swords, on a card showing-nine swords, but the Second-Governor of cups is shown with one cup only. In the case of the Kings and the Helpers, the mark appears over an ornamental panel, identical on all the cards before us; in the case of the Governor of swords, and Governor and Second-Governor of polo-sticks, without any distinguishing panel'1); in the case of the Governor and Second-Governor of cups, with an ornamental band across the stalk. In the top register of all uploads/Histoire/ mamluk-playing-cards-mayer-1939.pdf