Gutenberg and the Koreans: Playing Cards

Playing cards

Left: Chinese playing card found near Turfan, fifteenth century. Right: Queen of Wild Men, ca. 1440, engraving by the Master of the Playing Cards, with whom Gutenberg is thought to have worked (Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden).

Printed playing cards were used in China from an early date, probably the ninth century. Cards were an early subject of printing because they were popular with all classes and thus demanded reproduction in quantity, and they require standardized backs so that the contents of the face cannot be known. In Europe too cards were one of the earliest applications of printing, “doubtless because of the early and widespread use in the East,” in the judgment of Tsien Tsuen-Hsuen. “Probably they were brought to Europe by the Mongol armies, traders, and travellers.”¹⁶ Helmutt Lehmann-Haupt has produced evidence indicating that Gutenberg (who is said to have begun his career as an goldsmith) created copper engravings for playing cards prior to developing his printing press, apparently working in association with the artist known as the Master of the Playing Cards.

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Notes

16 Tsien, 310. [return]

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	Did East Asian Printing Traditions Influence the European Renaissance? Thomas Christensen

home search sitemap blog daybook contact	Playing cards Left: Chinese playing card found near Turfan, fifteenth century. Right: Queen of Wild Men, ca. 1440, engraving by the Master of the Playing Cards, with whom Gutenberg is thought to have worked (Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden). Printed playing cards were used in China from an early date, probably the ninth century. Cards were an early subject of printing because they were popular with all classes and thus demanded reproduction in quantity, and they require standardized backs so that the contents of the face cannot be known. In Europe too cards were one of the earliest applications of printing, “doubtless because of the early and widespread use in the East,” in the judgment of Tsien Tsuen-Hsuen. “Probably they were brought to Europe by the Mongol armies, traders, and travellers.”¹⁶ Helmutt Lehmann-Haupt has produced evidence indicating that Gutenberg (who is said to have begun his career as an goldsmith) created copper engravings for playing cards prior to developing his printing press, apparently working in association with the artist known as the Master of the Playing Cards. continue ... Notes 16 Tsien, 310. [return] continue ...	A print version of this essay will appear in Arts of Asia magazine in 2007 * Introduction Print Technology and Society The Development of Printing in China and Its Transmission to the West Paper Currency >>Playing cards<< Woodblock Books Movable Type Cross-Cultural Currents under the Mongol Empire Cast-Type Printing in Korea's Goryeo Dynasty Selected Reading * *** also of interest: Chinese Jade Taoism and the Arts of China Yi Ching, the Chinese Classic of Changes The Typehead Chronicles How to Publish a Book
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