The iconography, design and manufacture of the 19thcentury playing-cards by the Unger family from Győr

Abstract

The present article offers new evidence on the Unger playing-card making family of Győr, Western Transdanubia, as the result of a cross-disciplinary study. Mátyás Unger the Elder (1789–1862) and his like-named son Mátyás the Younger (1824–1878) produced various types of playing-cards from the early to mid-19th century. In particular, their cards, their iconography, design and production process will be analysed. The family is best known for their cards with Sopron (Oedenburg) pattern. Also discussed will be the role of Mátyás the Elder’s second eldest son Alajos Unger as a possible designer of the later Unger cards, which were of considerably higher quality than the earlier known ones by Mátyás Unger the Elder. The hitherto little-known Alajos Unger was trained as a draughtsman and painter first at the National Drawing School of his hometown and then, between 1833 and 1842, at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, particularly under Leopold Kupelwieser (1796–1862). Finally an innovative outside-in bottom-up method for gaining further, reliable insight into 19th century artisanal playing-card manufacturing will be proposed to determine the size, output and profitability of the Unger workshop based on material-flow simulation.