Mamluk Turkish Playing Card Deck Fragment

About the Deck

Found by Leo Mayer in 1942, this deck provides a crucial link between the patterns of the East and those of the West. It has distilled the Persian/Indian suits down into suits very similar to those used still today in Mediterranean Europe. These are the same suits used in most Tarot decks today.

Provenance

Turkey, c1400.

According to Many Schools of Thought

Papus's Divinatory Meanings

A dark young man. A friend.

A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings

Upright

A bad card; according to some readings, alienation.

Reversed

For a woman, marriage, but probably frustrated.

S. L. MacGregor Mathers's Divinatory Meanings

Upright

Departure, Separation, Disunion

Reversed

Rupture, Discord, Quarrel.