print;
playing-card
- Museum number
- 1982,U.4588.1-52
- Title
- Series: Jeu des Reynes Renommées
- Description
-
Complete educational pack of 52 mounted playing-cards giving instruction on the history of famous queens, pasted (at the British Museum) into a book with each page containing four cards. Each card contains a remarkable queen with her name and description lettered in the lower half. The cards are coloured to indicate the four suits, and all but the court cards are numbered in the top left corner.
Hand-coloured etching, letterpress
Backs plain (according to Willshire)
Late 17th Century
- Production date
- 1650-1700 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 84 millimetres
-
Width: 56 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- A copy after one of Stefano della Bella's educational games designed by Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin for the young Louis XIV on the orders of Cardinal Mazarin. Willshire states these cards were made in the first half of the seventeenth century, but as they are copies of an original set made circa 1644, they most likely date from the second half of the seventeenth century.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1753-1875 (old BM Library stamp)
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1982,U.4588.1-52
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: 7913.bb.9 (Old British Museum Library press mark)
