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Update: Vieville Crowns
By robert | March 6, 2008
Earlier I mentioned the Crown on the King of Cups, and asked for help in a thread on Aeclectic Tarot to find examples of the crown in the Vieville deck. I was pleased to see some very interesting responses. One of the contributors pointed out that not only does the King of Cups have an Asian feel to him, but also that the Queen and Valet of Cups do. I’ve discussed the “ethnicity” of the Vieville deck with my friend “jmd” at Aeclectic many times over the years, and still haven’t been able to come to a conclusion as to what Vieville may have intended.It’s interesting to compare the Vieville Queen of Cups with the queen from the Jean Dodal deck:
The Queen of Cups does indeed seem to have some type of turban on her head, with the crown placed on top.I was delighted when more people got into the spirit of the “quest” and some suggestions started to emerge of possible relationships to the Vieville. By far, the most interesting similarity so far comes from Florentine painting from the mid-1400s. These images are from the Magi Chapel by Benozzo Gozzoli:
Here is another image from the same set of murals, and the Queen of Coins from Jacques Vieville.
And finally, a pretty good match for the Knight of Cups (and maybe a Knight and Valet of Swords as well!)
Of course, this doesn’t mean anything other than that a set of famous paintings in Italy share some similiarities to the Vieville Tarot. Hopefully, this is just the first set of similar images, and more will be uncovered. Nevertheless, I think these are beautiful.
Topics: Jacques Vieville Tarot, Tarot History |