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print
;
playing-card
Object Type
print
playing-card
Museum number
1896,0501.1235-1287
Title
Series:
Jeu des Fables
Description
Complete pack of 52 playing-cards with mythological subject matter Etching Backs plain 1644
Producer name
Print made by:
Stefano della Bella
After:
Jean Desmarests
Published by:
Henri Le Gras
School/style
Italian
French
Production date
1644
Production place
Published in:
Paris (France)
Materials
pasteboard
Technique
etching
Dimensions
Height:
88 millimetres
(approx. size of each card)
Width:
57 millimetres
(approx. size of each card)
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments
One of the four sets of educational playing-cards designed for the young Louis XIV by Jean Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin. Each card contains subjects from Ovid's "Metamorphoses" represented by a mythological figure or figures with title, description and indication of suit. This pack, in the second state, has the heart and diamond suit-marks only in outline. For a full description of the set see curator's comment to 1849,0421.226; each card of that set has been catalogued as an individual entry from De Vesme/Massar 489 to De Vesme/Massar 541. For the states of this series, see Phyllis Massar in 'Print Quarterly', IV 1987, pp.411-17.
Bibliographic references
De Vesme/Massar 1971 / Stefano della Bella
(489.IV-541.IV)
Schreiber / Catalogue of the collection of playing cards bequeathed to the British Museum by Lady Charlotte Schreiber
(French 106)
Schreiber / Playing Cards of Various Ages and Countries selected from the collection of Lady Charlotte Schreiber
(II, pl. 15-18)
Location
Not on display
Subjects
classical mythology
Associated names
Associated with:
Jean Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin
Associated with:
Cardinal Jules Mazarin
Associated with:
Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre
Acquisition name
Bequeathed by:
Lady Charlotte Schreiber
Acquisition date
1896
Department
Prints and Drawings
Registration number
1896,0501.1235-1287