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Image of Gallery in South Kensington

The Five of Acorns

Playing Card
1546-1550 (made)
Artist/Maker
Oth, Clas (maker)
Place of origin
Nuremberg (made)

Playing card with five acorns

Object details

Categories
Entertainment & Leisure
Games
Playing Cards & Tarot Cards
Prints
Printmaking Techniques
Object type
Playing card
TitleThe Five of Acorns (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Woodcut, hand-coloured
Brief description
Woodcut, with hand-applied wash. In the style of Clas Oth. Playing card, probably Nuremberg, 1546-1550.
Physical description
Playing card with five acorns
Dimensions
  • Sheet size height: 8.9cm
  • Sheet size width: 6.2cm
Style
Medieval
Gallery label
(August 2019)
Playing cards were among the earliest woodcut
prints, with the first reference to them dating to about 1430. These cards feature German suits – hearts, bells, acorns and leaves – and are similar to ones made by Clas Oth, a specialist card maker working in Nuremberg. For economy and speed, card makers printed an entire deck on a single sheet of paper and hand-coloured them using shaped stencils.
Credit line
Purchased under the bequest of Capt. H.B. Murray
Subject depicted
Acorns
Bibliographic reference
Jean Hamilton, Playing Cards in theVictoria & Albert Museum, London, 1988, pp 8-9
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.990-1920

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Record createdMay 9, 2005
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O111892/the-five-of-acorns-playing-card-oth-clas/
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