Some Manuscript Sources for the Playing-Card Master's Number Cards

Abstract

Designs in three suits from the Playing-Card Master's engraved cards occur in manuscripts illuminated in the workshop of the Bedford Master well before the date of the cards. The repetition of designs in several manuscripts suggests that they were recorded in a repertory of patterns which was probably copied and expanded outside the sphere of the Bedford illuminators. As the cards are dependent in part on a lost repertory of established decorative designs, the engraver is to be viewed as a reproductive rather than an inventive artist.