print; playing-card

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Object Type: print; playing-card
Museum number: 1896,0501.688.1-53
Title: Series: Schau-Platz der Welt
Description: Complete pack of 52 playing-cards plus title card with German suit-marks and text printed three to a sheet and sewn together to form a book. Etching
Producer name: After: Stefano della Bella; After: Jean Desmarests
School/style: German; French; Italian
Production date: 1644-1700
Materials
Technique: etching; engraving
Dimensions: Height: 110 millimetres (approx. size of each card); Width: 61 millimetres (approx. size of each card)
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: Set of German copies after Stefano della Bella's 'Jeu de la Géographie' (1896,0501.680), one of the educational games designed by Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin for the young Louis XIV on the orders of Cardinal Mazarin. For full details of the original game see curator's comment to 1871,0513.587 and individual entries for De Vesme/Massar numbers 543 to 594. In this set the inscriptions vary from those of the original pack. The title card represents the four quarters of the world. Each card depicts the female personification of a country or continent, with title and description.
Bibliographic references: De Vesme/Massar 1971 / Stefano della Bella (542-594) (copies); Schreiber / Catalogue of the collection of playing cards bequeathed to the British Museum by Lady Charlotte Schreiber (French 120)
Location: Not on display
Subjects
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
Acquisition date: 1896
Department: Prints and Drawings
Registration number: 1896,0501.688.1-53

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