Historic playing cards and tarot: discover the Cloisters deck

A historic deck can be something other than tarot

Figures in period dress, carefully chosen colors, and the shape of a playing card may bring tarot to mind. Visual resemblance alone cannot identify a deck. A visit to a museum collection invites a simple question before any interpretation: what object are we actually looking at?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds a set called The Cloisters Playing Cards, dated to around 1475 to 1480. The catalog identifies it as a 52-card deck of ordinary playing cards. The suits feature hunting equipment, including horns and dog collars. These are features of this particular set.

Read a catalog record on its own terms

The object’s name, its date, and the makeup of the deck tell you three different things. Write them down separately. An approximate date stays approximate. There is no need to pick an exact year to make the story more exciting. Likewise, a collection’s current name tells you little on its own about how the deck was originally used.

Take care with animals and accessories, too. In this record, the objects identify suits. Treating one as a prediction about your life would add your own interpretation to the museum’s account.

Compare visible shapes

Here is an exercise from Voyancea. Choose a reproduction of a historic card and a card from a deck you already own. Compare two visible features: the arrangement of the motifs and the amount of space the figure takes up. You can look at images online without buying a deck.

In a fictional example, one image repeats an object around its border, and the other brings its elements together in the center. You can describe that difference in composition. It gives you no reason to assume the pictures share a message or that the motifs are historically connected.

If a resemblance makes you curious, turn it into a research question. Did the two decks come from the same region or period? If the catalog records do not tell you, leave it as an observation. A promising question can stay open.

Keep exploring

Card culture is broader than the ways people use tarot today. Discovering a different kind of deck lets you appreciate its drawings, the objects it depicts, and the way the images are arranged. Looking closely requires no particular belief. Historical cards can differ from the ones you know, and some questions may remain open.