Cary-Yale Visconti Tarot
From Tarotpedia
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[edit] Description
The Cary-Yale Visconti deck may be the oldest Tarot deck in existence. It is one of several hand-painted Italian decks that the Visconti family commissioned in the 15th Century. 67 cards remain in existence.
The surviving trumps are:
- The Empress
- The Emperor
- Love
- The Chariot
- Strength
- Death
- Judgement
- The World
- Faith
- Hope
- Charity
[edit] Six Court Cards
The Cary-Yale Visconti deck is unique in that it seems to have been created with 6 court cards per suit rather than 4 as in traditional Tarot decks. The court cards are referred to as:
- The King
- The Queen
- The Male Knight
- The Female Knight
- The Male Valet
- The Female Valet
This has led some to speculate that the deck may have been a "transitional" deck, from an early period in Tarot history when the 78 card deck as we know it had not yet taken form. Some historians wonder if there might have been originally only 16 Trump cards (Major Arcana).
[edit] Faith, Hope, and Charity
Another oddity of the deck is the inclusion of Faith, Hope and Charity, the three Theological Virtues. In traditional Tarot decks we usually find Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude (Strength), three of the four Cardinal Virtues. The missing Cardinal Virtue being Prudence, which is a mystery itself. The Cary-Yale deck probably had the three common virtue cards, and may have had Prudence as well, but that is only speculation.
[edit] Creator(s)
[edit] Publishing details
[edit] Date of Publication
Uncertain, probably between the1420's and 1460's
[edit] Publisher
Beinecke Library at Yale University Online High Resolution Images, enter "cards" to find the images.
U.S. Games Systems U.S. Games Systems deck.
[edit] Deck creation and/or publication process
Hand painted cards.
[edit] Reviews
- Aeclectic Tarot Reviews by James Mathis & Bonnie Cehovet
- Andy's Playing Cards A very infromative site on the Visconti decks.
- Uri Raz's Tarot Site Large sized versions of the Cary-Yale Visconti trumps.
