The Queen of Flowers
Master of the Playing Cards German
Not on view
The Master of the Playing Cards was the first important figure in the history of engraving. His name derives from a set of seventy printed cards that survive in unique or rare impressions. The original deck was composed of number and figure cards in suits that included flowers, birds, deer, wild men, and beasts of prey. The artist engraved separate printing plates for each figure and each suit so that they could be combined for different cards. Here an unfurling blossom represents the suit of flowers. The overall soft tone and the slight slippage in the face of the figure suggest that this small work was printed by hand rather than with a rolling printing press, which came into common use later in the fifteenth century.
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