2. Bologna

An unresolved question from the previous section concerns decks with "Carte fine di Roma" on their 4 of Coins, bearded Kings of Cups and Coins, unbearded Kings of Swords and Batons, "Carte Fine" on their 3 of Cups, an insignia suggesting a trademark on the 4 of Cups, and, when present, the Bolognese skyline on their Trumpets card. Among those I have found online, there is one of 97 cards that fits all of these criteria, one of 96 cards showing that fits four of them and is missing its Trumpets card, and one with only three cards showing, but one is trumpets and another is a 4s of Coins nearly identical to that of the other two decks. 

R1.  https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1896-0501-42. Lily on 4 of Cups, “apolto 1823” stamped on 3 Co. Multiple stamps on 6 of Coins. Floral Coins. 96 cards shown, lacking Leo. High tower on Trumpets plus ribbed dome on right.

R2.  https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/search/collection?query=minchiate Lily on 4 of Cups, floral Coins. “Carte Fine” stamped on 3 of Cups. Monogram-style stamp on 6 Co. Missing Trumpets. 94 cards shown. The Cooper-Hewitt Collection is a branch of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

R3.  William Keller, The Cary Collection of Playing Cards at Yale University (vol. 2 online at Beinecke Library website), ITA 61, showing (in vol. 4, not online) only the 4 of Coins (floral pattern Coins), Trumpets (Bologna skyline), Fool. Black and white photos of the first two appear in my previous section

Do these constitute a "Rome" pattern or a variant of the "Bologna" pattern?

Against these are those which have the most indications of Bologna, namely all of the previous criteria but with "Carte Fine in Bologna" on their 3 of Cups and a trade-name on their 4 of Coins after "Carte Fine."

B1.  http://a.trionfi.eu/WWPCM/decks07/d05114/d05114.htm. 4 of Coins has “Al Leone,” the  4 of Cups, a phoenix (recognizable by the tuft on its head); Bologna skyline. “Al Mondo” backs. 97 cards shown. Coins have heads. 9 cards of this deck, the same based on the description given, are also at https://museotik.euskadi.eus/coleccion/-/titulo-tarot-florentino-minchiate-al-mondo/objeto-baraja/museotik-ca-64159/.

B2.  https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1896-0501-40, 97 cards pictured. 4 of Coins has “Al Soldato” and heads on Coins; 4 of Cups, horseman; Bologna skyline. “Alla Fama” back.

B3.  https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1896-0501-39, 97 cards pictured. 4 of Coins has “Imperador” and heads, 4 of Cups a Roman emperor; Bologna. “Alla Fortuna” back with Medici arms. 97 cards.

B4. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1896-0501-51. 84 cards shown, all of De Giorgio's cards missing except the four Kings. I give it to Bologna because the BM says that the extant cards are identical to those of B2 above. No stamps. Coins have heads.

B5. Christie's catalog of the Kaplan Collection, 2006, p. 103. 73 cards extant, 13 shown in low-resolution color plus back. "Alla Colomba" both on backs and the 4 of Coins (with heads). https://askalexander.org/display/22146/Christie's+New+York:+Historic+Cards+and+Games:+The+Stuart+and+Marilyn+Kaplan+Collection+Wednesday+21+June+2006/105.

Then there are those in between. These have blank spaces on their 4 of Coins after "carte fine," no "in Bologna" after "carte fine" on the 3 of Cups, but all of the other criteria. These are (using "C" for "carte fine"):

C1. http://www.endebrock.de/coll/pages/i31.html. Peter Endebrock's site, with what I term a "cogwheel" pattern on its Coins (4 of Coins shown in the previous section).

C2. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/search?keyword=minchiate, sheets with object numbers ending in 1597 through 1602. Six sheets, uncolored. Floral pattern on Coins.

C3. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b105373422/f129. "ALL AQUILA" on back. 4 of Coins has "CARTE FINE ALL AQUILA" and date 1763. Stamp with "Gaetano dalla casa all' Aquila in Via Clavature in Bologna" on 2 of Coins. Floral Coins.

C4. "Minchiate al Cigno" put out by Lo Scarabeo, full deck in color, with floral backs and "AL CIGNO below." Producer said to be Pellegrino Torre, card maker of Bologna. Floral Coins.

C5. "Minchiate al Cigno," 60 cards pictured (out of 97) in the 1988 Deutsches Spielkartenmuseum (DSM) exhibition catalog Tarot, Tarock, Tarocchi; back has "mann mit zipfelmütze" (man with pointed cap) and "AL CIGNO." Producer: "Angelo Dallacasa (?)." Fronts look identical to deck 4, but the black and white reproductions are poor. Floral Coins

C6. https://museotik.euskadi.eus/coleccion/-/autoria-germano-natali/titulo-tarot-florentino-minchiate/objeto-baraja/museotik-ca-50631/. "Tarot Florentino Minchiate" (not the museum's title, but that of whoever uploaded the pictures). 8 cards shown plus back, of a man in a pointed cap and "AL CIGNO." Producer: "Germani Natali." Book citation on webpage. The fronts look identical to the Lo Scarabeo deck. No Coins number cards shown. 

 Should the links to the British Museum and Gallica decks not work (as happens from time to time), all the BM decks online are at the link of C2 above, and you can reach all the Gallica decks by going to that site (https://gallica.bnf.fr/) and searching (rechercher) "jeu de cartes minchiate", which will take you to a list of them.

I will begin by comparing the "di Roma" (on the 4 of Coins) with the "in Bologna" (on the 3 of Cups).

Looking only at the lines and ignoring the color added by the stencils, there are some general differences in the amount of shading - it is in both of the Rome ones but may vary in the "in Bologna." Some of the differences are in the seven cards of Papa II, Love, Wheel, Hanged Man, Death, Faith, and the 2 of Swords. (In this essay, since I am concerned with what is depicted on the cards rather than the game that was played with them, I shall refer to the cards by name rather than number.) Below, I have put B3 on top and R1 on the bottom. Hopefully the relevant details will be visible if I squeeze all seven into one row. If not, clicking on the image will make it larger.

On Papa II, the difference is the bird sitting above the figure's hand; it is similar on the Wheel. On Love the difference is in the size of the crown. On the Hanged Man, there is of course no such minchiate card as IIX, in a game where a card's number is all-important. The British Museum assistant doing the scanning managed to get both of them upside down. Rotating the Roman one by 180 degrees, so that the number is XII, it would seem that he is meant to be standing on the ground on one foot, perhaps with a snake around his leg, preparing to juggle. The coloring on both, green next to his foot, aids the impression. On Death, there is a drafting error: the Roman horse has only one front leg. On Faith, we see an old, bearded man instead of a lady. On the 2 of Swords, the stag's mouth is exaggerated in Rome. 

Other differences, for which I didn't have room above, are in Aquarius, Leo, and World. I will compare these three in their "in Bologna" and "di Roma" manifestations later in the section, adding to them a representative deck with just "carte fine" and no city. 

To see how consistent these differences are, including the shading, it is perhaps worth comparing the first two through the other three decks: first, the "Al Leone," then BM 40, then the "di Roma" at the Smithsonian.

The differences in shading are fairly consistent. Whether the line is heavier is more a function of variations in presses and how worn the woodblock is.

So what about the decks that don't indicate a city, neither Bologna nor Rome, but satisfy de Giorgio's criteria? Now that we know what to look for, it is fairly clear that Endebrock's cards (my C1), although missing the 2 of Swords, are very much like those with "in Bologna" and a trade-name.

But it is a different story with the rest, at least those that show De Giorgio's cards. Here are the same seven cards as those shown second above, from the "Al Aquila" deck with just "Carte Fine" on its back. It has a floral pattern on its Coins, like the "di Roma" cards and unlike the "in Bologna" ones, which have heads. That its 2 of Coins is stamped "Gaetano dalla casa all' Aquila in Via Clavature in Bologna" is a fairly good indication that it was made in Bologna.
Papa II and the Wheel look fairly similar to the "di Roma." The crown on Love is a little large for the man's head, but not as much as in the "in Bologna" decks. The Hanged Man is in his normal position. Death's horse again has one front foot, and Faith is a bearded old man. The stag's mouth is still rather large and awkward.

The "Al Cigno" decks and the six uncolored sheets are identical to the above except in coloration. Given that these decks, at least as shown, differ from the "di Roma" in only a couple of details - the size of the crown on the Love card and the standing Hanged Man - it is hard to deny the "di Roma" decks the same status as a variant of a standard pattern - whether of Bologna only or both Bologna and Florence remains to be seen. 

The same is true of the three other cards I alluded to earlier, namely Aquarius, Leo, and Trumpets. At left are, on top, the "in Bologna" BM 40, the "di Roma" BM 42 (with the Cooper-Hewitt "di Roma" deck's Leo, missing from BM 42), and at the bottom the "Aquila" (my C3). The similarities of this deck's cards with the "di Roma" ones are undeniable: the same vertical lines instead of a lattice on Aquarius, unpatterned ground with plants on Leo instead of a double diamond, and the small dome at the right on Trumpets, with a minimal "leaning tower" on the left. The same similarities hold for the other decks with just "carte fine" on their 3 of Cups and 4 of Coins (C2, C4, C5). 

Neither of these differences on Aquarius and and Leo, unlike some of the others, will be of any use in distinguishing Florence from Bologna, as Florence's cards have the lattice and the double diamond. And since the Trumpets in Florence also has a dome on the right and no leaning tower on the left, what is decisive is presence or not of the high tower.

The issue remains of whether  the "in Roma" decks were made by a branch of a Bolognese manufacturer in Rome, or made in Bologna for export to Rome. On this issue, the official-looking stamps on the cards may be relevant. Below are all the ones I could find: the three on the left are "in Bologna," the four on the right "di Roma." The "per le case" (for the houses) of the "al Leone" on the far left matches the Cooper-Hewitt's "per case" (for houses) on the far right, but not precisely. The Gaetano, second from left, is not like any of the others. The BM 40 "in Bologna" deck, 3rd below, has stamps on the 6 of Coins, and so does the "di Roma" BM 42; but they are different stamps. "Appolto" just means "contract" and is no help. The stamps on the two "di Roma" 6 of Coins look similar, but that is not surprising. I can come to no conclusion about where the deck is made. All I can say is that both the "di Roma" and those decks without a city identified seem like a variant of the Bolognese pattern.

The strangest cases of this sort that I have found are two with "carte fine in Firenze" on their 4 of Coins. One, reported by William Keller in The Cary Collection of Playing Cards at Yale University, 1981 (vol. 2, p. 42, accessible online at Beinecke Library website), has "Alla Colomba" on its backs, a name we otherwise recognize as a trademark of Bologna. In volume 4 he shows three cards from that deck. None of them are among those singled out by De Giorgio. They are also not among the cards I have singled out as having alternative depictions within Bologna. As far as what pattern the three cards belong to, only if the criteria can be extended to include one or more of them can they be of use.

Another such deck is shown in the course of an essay by De Giorgio, “I Tarocchi in Italia, Tarocchini & Minchiate,” p. 53( in Lo Scarabeo, ed., Tarocchi dal Rinascimento a oggi, Turin, 2017, pp. 51-70). Seven cards plus a back - an abstract pattern without words - are shown; one of them happens to be the 4 of Coins, which is precisely as Keller described for the other deck.

Of course, according to De Giorgio's criteria, these decks are not from Florence, despite what they say on the 4 of Coins, because Florentine cards have an elephant there and no words. Or might these decks be exceptions to De Giorgio's criterion? 

If it should turn out that these decks conform to a general Bolognese pattern, there is also the issue of whether they would be of the standard "in Bologna" variety or one of the variants. Notice that what is inside the Coins of the 4 of Coins pictured are heads, like the "in Bologna" variety. and not the floral pattern of the "di Roma" cards. Moreover, one of the cards shown is Death: it shows two forelegs on the horse, which again conforms to the "in Bologna" pattern and not the "di Roma" or city unspecified variants. Perhaps we are dealing with a third variant, even if in only one card. I will return to these two decks at the end of section 4, when we have more information about what might distinguish a "Bologna pattern" from a "Florence pattern." 

It may well turn out that we cannot rule out that these decks were made in Florence but using a Bolognese woodblock and stencils - and so, most likely by a Bolognese card maker residing there. Alternatively, it might have been made in Bologna specifically for export to Florence; we know from archival sources that this was done. In that case, if it turns out that the rest of the cards also correspond to Bologna and not Florence, all we will be able say is, as in the case of the "di Roma," is that it fits the "Bologna pattern." A pattern does not require that the decks belonging to it have been made in a particular city, as we know from the two "Tarot of Marseille" patterns, whose production was not tied to any one city.

To go to the next section, click on "older posts" or on "3. Florence" below.