Animal Tarot

18th century Russian Animal Tarot made in Mannheim.

Animal tarots (German: Tiertarock) are a subgenre of tarot decks used for playing card games that were most commonly found in northern Europe, from Belgium to Russia. A theme of animals, real and/or fantastic, replaces the traditional trump scenes found in the Italian-suited Tarot of Besançon. The Sküs plays a musical instrument while the Pagat is represented by Hans Wurst, a carnival stock character 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 were 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 of Austria-Hungary.

Single-figured

Belgian Animal Tarot

Bavarian Animal Tarot

After being introduced from Alsace, Besançon pattern tarots were made in Germany as early as the 1720s but were likely 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 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 often in different orders.

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. Though widely copied, it died out in the early 19th century. It was also the most widespread animal tarot with one sub-type produced for export to Russia.

The Belgian Animal Tarot has the same trumps as the ones 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 should not be confused with the Italian-suited Belgian tarot which first appeared in Rouen around 1740 and died out at the beginning of the 19th century.

Double-ended

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

Adler Cego

Adler Cego cards

An Adler Cego 78-card pack dating to around 1820 shows the same design of tarocks as those still produced today, however, the courts are of an earlier pattern. At some time during the 19th century, possibly in the 1840s, different courts were incorporated from an earlier design, 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.

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 who have been making it since c. 1890, 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 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 Hanswurst) 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 and is called the Stieß or G'stieß (Fool). Despite the name (Adler means "eagle"), eagles do not appear in any of the cards.

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. Crude to begin with, 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.

See also

• French suited tarots

References

Cited sources

• Birlinger, Anton; Pfaff, Friedrich (1916). Alemannia. F. E. Fehsenfeld.