2 of Nooses, from The Cloisters Playing Cards
Unknown Artist
ca. 1475–80
Medium
Paper (four layers of pasteboard) with pen and ink, opaque paint, glazes, and applied silver and gold
Dimensions
5 3/16 × 2 3/4 in. (13.2 × 7 cm)
Classification
Miscellaneous-Paper
Culture
South Netherlandish
Department
The Cloisters
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Cloisters Collection, 1983
Accession Number
1983.515.51
Tags
About this artwork
This playing card from The Cloisters Playing Cards represents one of the pip cards (numbered cards) in the suit of nooses, part of the only complete deck of illuminated fifteenth-century playing cards known to survive. Created in the South Netherlands around 1475-80, these extraordinary objects combine functionality as gaming pieces with remarkable artistic ambition. The card's construction demonstrates medieval manuscript techniques adapted to playing card production: four layers of pasteboard ...