Medieval people from every social status played games, but wealthy ladies and gentlemen had the resources for specialer ones. The first image you see here is the earliest intact deck of playing cards, known as the “Flemish Hunting Deck.” Made up of fifty-two hand-painted cards, the deck was created about 1480, and used real gold and silver alongside other pigments. The cards themselves show the sumptuous costumes worn by the nobility of the Netherlands — the short jackets and pointy shoes may even be an exaggeration of outfits the fantastically wealthy were wearing at the time. The four suits in the deck all relate to that favored aristocratic pastime, hunting: you can see hunting horns, tethers for hunting dogs, hunting dog collars, and hunting nooses to keep small animals as bait. The fact that the cards show almost no wear and tear might mean they were just held as prized possessions and didn’t get actual use. Rougher card decks likely didn’t stand the test of time, but might have been used more, and by people from a wider range of economic backgrounds. Of course, the games we play today have similar ranges in quality, and avid collectors and fans might hold dear the most lavishly created versions of their favorites. This past weekend I attended PAX Unplugged, a big gaming convention, and saw many, many places to buy dice for RPGs: their costs ranged widely. However, some dice were made out of semi-precious stones, heavy metals, or rare wood, and they — like the ones shown in the second image — were clearly in another league, greatly admired by the crowds.
Source(s): Metmuseum.org, “Sport and Spoof: _The Cloisters Playing Cards_,” April 13, 2016, Tim Husband.
