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Animal Tarot ( German: ''Tiertarock'') is a genre of tarot decks used for playing card games that were most commonly found in northern Europe, from Belgium to Russia, only one of which has survived: the Adler Cego pattern in south Germany. A theme of animals, real and/or fantastic, replaces the traditional trump scenes found in the
Italian-suited Playing cards (''carte da gioco'') have been in Italy since the late 14th century. Until the mid 19th century, Italy was composed of many smaller independent states which led to the development of various regional patterns of playing cards; "Ital ...
tarot packs such as the Tarot of Besançon. The '' Sküs'' plays a musical instrument while the '' Pagat'' is represented by
Hans Wurst Hanswurst or Hans Wurst (German for "Johnny Sausage") was a popular coarse-comic figure of German-speaking impromptu comedy. He is "a half doltish, half cunning, partly stupid, partly knowing, enterprising and cowardly, self indulgent and merry f ...
, a carnival
stock character A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of st ...
who carries his sausage, drink, slap stick, or hat. They constitute the first generation of French-suited tarot patterns. Prior to their introduction, tarot card games had been confined to Italy, France, and Switzerland. During the 17th century, the game's popularity in these three countries declined and was forgotten in many regions. The rapid expansion of the game into the Holy Roman Empire and Scandinavia after the appearance of animal tarots may not be a coincidence. In the 19th century, most animal tarots were replaced with tarots that have genre scenes, veduta, opera, architecture, or ethnological motifs on the trumps such as the ''
Industrie und Glück ''Industrie und Glück'' (Early Modern German for "Diligence and Fortune") is a pattern of French suited playing cards used to play tarock. The name originates from an inscription found on the second trump card. This deck was developed during t ...
'' of Austria-Hungary.


Single-figured

After being introduced from Alsace, Besançon pattern tarots were made in Germany as early as the 1720s but were probably not popular as German rule books did not mention tarot until after 1750. The earliest animal tarots, utilizing Lyonnais face cards, were made around 1740 in
Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
with production also in Germany, Belgium, and Sweden up to the early 19th century. The animal trumps of this early pattern were copied by later makers but the motifs were often in different orders on the tarot cards.


Bavarian Animal Tarot

The Bavarian Animal Tarot was designed by Andreas Benedict Göbl of Munich, Bavaria around 1765. He replaced the Lyonnais face cards with the Bavarian version of the Paris pattern. Meanwhile the tarocks depicted various animals, some accompanied by a person; these appear to be taken from a generic set of designs which were then used in different orders on the various tarocks. The pattern was widely copied; examples being known from Alsace, Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Denmark and Russia as well as other German states. Despite being the most widespread animal tarot, it died out in the early 19th century. The pack is only known in the 78-card form. A facsimile of the Russian version has been published by Piatnik.


Belgian Animal Tarot

The Belgian Animal Tarot has the same trumps as the Bavarian one above but with unique court cards such as the queens and shin-exposed kings draped in cloaks. Although designed in Germany and also used in Denmark, it acquired its name due to its longevity in Belgium, being made until the late 19th century. It is last recorded there in c. 1880. As with the Bavarian pack, the designs on the tarocks are from a common stock but different cardmakers usually printed them in a different order. It is only known in the 78-card version. It should not be confused with the Italian-suited Belgian tarot which first appeared in
Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...
around 1740 and died out at the beginning of the 19th century.


Double-figured

Around 1800, newer patterns were introduced using reversible ('double-figured' or 'double-ended') courts and trumps. The Upper Austrian Tarot, Tyrolean, Baltic, and Adler Cego decks all share similar court designs, being double-figured (or double-ended) versions of the Bavarian Paris pattern.


Adler Cego

A 78-card pack dating to around 1820 shows the same design of tarocks as those still produced today, however, the courts are of a different pattern. Although labelled "Cego Animal Tarock" by
Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...
, it may have been a standard pack for tarock games since Cego is not known to have been played with 78 cards. At some time during the 19th century, possibly in the 1840s, a second style of courts was incorporated from another early design; this is called Pattern F200 or XP8 by the International Playing-Card Society. F200 is one of a range of 'expatriate pattern' French-suited cards and was first observed in the early 19th century. In 1852, packs of playing cards were being sold "at a cheap price" by a restauranteur in Karlsruhe as "Zego (Tarrok)" cards. It is not known whether these were of the Animal Tarot type or another pattern that preceded the emergence of
C.L. Wüst C.L. Wüst was a German playing card manufacturer that was founded by Conrad Ludwig Wüst in 1819 and was active until 1927. History Conrad Wüst was born around 1783. In 1811, he was granted a licence to start up a cardmaking business in the Ge ...
's
Encyclopaedic Tarot The Bourgeois Tarot deck is a mid-19th century pattern of tarot playing card, cards of German origin that is still used for playing card games today in western Europe and Canada. It is not designed for divination, divinatory purposes.
in 1865 which is ancestral to Bourgeois Tarot, the other pattern used today for playing Cego. In 1879–1882, Lennhoff & Heuser of Frankfurt produced the first packs known as "Adler Cego", the name apparently derived from a small eagle, the crest of the city of Frankfurt, depicted on the Queen of Diamonds. The firm was taken over by V.A.S.S. in 1882 who continue to produce the pack more or less unchanged today. Adler Cego is one of only two tarot packs still manufactured in Germany, the other being of the Bourgeois Tarot pattern. Today it is only produced by
ASS Altenburger ASS Altenburger is since 2003 the trademark of the German playing card manufacturer Spielkartenfabrik Altenburg, based in the town of Altenburg. The firm is owned by Cartamundi, of Turnhout, Belgium. ASS (''Altenburger und Stralsunder Spielkarten ...
who have been making it since 1882, giving the pack the designation "Adler-Cego Nr. 99" around 1931. It is the only animal tarot pattern still in common use, being played in the Black Forest region of southwest Germany. Like the ''
Industrie und Glück ''Industrie und Glück'' (Early Modern German for "Diligence and Fortune") is a pattern of French suited playing cards used to play tarock. The name originates from an inscription found on the second trump card. This deck was developed during t ...
'' pattern, it now consists of just 54 cards which include of 22 trumps, 16 face cards (''images'') and 16 pip cards (''empty cards''). Trump 1 shows the ''Kleiner Mann'' (based on
Hans Wurst Hanswurst or Hans Wurst (German for "Johnny Sausage") was a popular coarse-comic figure of German-speaking impromptu comedy. He is "a half doltish, half cunning, partly stupid, partly knowing, enterprising and cowardly, self indulgent and merry f ...
) while trump 2 has mythological hybrids. Trumps 3 to 21 depict real animals. The highest trump lacks the pink panels that the other trumps have on both ends of the cards depicting its rank in Arabic numerals. Instead, it shows a gleeman (wandering poet) and is called the Stieß or G'stieß (
Fool Fool, The Fool, or Fools may refer to: *A jester, also called a ''fool'', a type of historical entertainer known for their witty jokes *An insult referring to someone of low intelligence or easy gullibility Arts, entertainment and media Fictio ...
). Despite the name (''Adler'' means "eagle"), eagles do not appear in any of the cards. Today, these 54-card Adler Cego packs are used in southwest Germany for playing the Baden national game of Cego, as well as the other regional games of
Dreierles Dreierles is a three-handed, trick-taking Tarot card game that is popular in the German region of central Baden. It is very old and appears to be a south German cousin of Tapp Tarock, the oldest known 54-card Tarot game. Dreierles is played with C ...
and Vier-Anderle.


Danish (Holmblad) Animal Tarot

The earliest French-suited animal "Tarok" pack manufactured in Denmark appeared in 1752 and was made by J.F. Mayer of Borregade to a design that may have been imported from Belgium. In 1783, Mayer's workshop was taken over by C.E. Süsz who joined forces with Kuntze to produce a second animal tarot pack based on the Bavarian pattern. These were produced until 1798. In the 1820s, Jacob Holmblad designed an entirely new, double-ended, animal tarot pack. This Danish Animal Tarot was crude to begin with, but the design quality improved considerably within the space of just a few years. This was the last animal tarot produced in Denmark; when Jacob died in 1837, and his son, Lauritz Peter, inherited the business, the animal tarot cards were replaced by images of Danish architecture.


Upper Austrian Animal Tarot

The earliest Upper Austrian Animal Tarot pack is dated to 1813 but little is known about the origins of the pattern other than the fact that it is clearly based on its Bavarian cousin, albeit the courts are "more austere in appearance". The pattern was also produced in Bohemia until 1858. It was made in both 78- and 54-card versions.''Pattern Sheet 10''
at i-p-c-s.org. Retrieved 7 August 2021.


See also

* French suited tarots


Footnotes


References


Citations


Cited sources

* {{Tarot and Tarock card games History of card decks Tarot playing card decks Playing card patterns