More to the Esch report
There are 107 Trionfi documents in the Esch article, and one of these was already known to us (Giovanni da Pistoia, 1453), so it are 106 new Trionfi card documents from 1453-1465.
That's nearly the same number, as we had already before, either from old stuff or from the recent years since 2003 inclusive the big extension, which resulted mainly from Franco Pratesi's studies in the last two years.
So, simplified, the Esch article doubled our collection.
I looked in the web to discover something of the book. I found a description of the book-presentation ....
http://www.gutenberg-gesellschaft.de/ei ... &tx_ttnews[tt_news]=217&cHash=49ad29991ef63a2b9b04e5a396afcfe7
Außerdem markiert 2013 den Beginn einer neuen Reihe zu Buch-, Druck-, Papier- und Schriftmuseen. Eröffnet wird die Reihe von Alan Marshall, Präsident der Association of European Printing Museums mit einem Grußwort und einer Vorstellung des traditionsreichen Druckmuseums in Lyon.
Es folgen zehn Beiträge, die sich mit der Druckforschung im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert auseinandersetzen, darunter ein außergewöhnlicher Beitrag von Prof. Dr. Arnold und Dr. Doris Esch zur Frühgeschichte der Spielkarte in Rom sowie ein detaillierter Fachtext von Prof. Dr. Dieter Wuttke über die sogenannten Zierquadrangel, einer typografischen Besonderheit.
The article is the first of 10 in this category of the book, so at a selected position, and it is called "außergewöhnlich" (exceptional). The book is sponsored by the Gutenberg-Gesellschaft in cooperation with the Gutenberg-Museum in Mainz, and they spend some money for studies to the old printing industry. I remember, that I visited once the Museum. when in Mainz for a few hours, maybe in the late 1980's.
Here's the publisher and the book.
http://www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/title_4437.ahtml
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The article is now a little bit analyzed, especially the Trionfi documents. The analysis looks this way (provisionally, I hope, the last errors are cleared) ...
The complete view is here:
http://trionfi.com/0/eh/p/first-analyze.jpg
The reported documents have specific states.
1. some documents contains something with cards, but not with Trionfi decks (these are not counted on the table and are not part of the 107 Trionfi card documents), beside the years, in which the merchant was active with cards. In such a case "active" is written and a number in brackets () and the number tells how much documents testify the activity.
2. Some documents contain something with cards and with Trionfi cards. Then it is regarded as a Trionfi note and counted on the table.
3. Some documents contains only something about Trionfi cards. Then it is taken as Trionfi deck document and also counted on the table.
If it is a Trionfi document (as in the case of 2. or 3.), it might have the numbers of the related Trionfi decks and it might have a price (that what the custom official thought to be the correct price, mostly that of a group of cards; from such documents one might calculate the single deck price, but occasionally it's insecure or impossible).
From 107 documents 77 have a number of the related Trionfi decks (so roughly 72 %) and 21 have a price (so 20%), but not all documents with price tell, how much Trionfi decks were imported, and occasionally trionfi cards and other playing cards are contained both in the price, leaving insecurities in the calculation.
In the table the form ...
number#number#number#number
... is chosen. The first number tells, in how much Trionfi documents a merchant appeared in a given year. The second number gives, how much of these documents contained a number for the imported Trionfi decks, and the 3rd number tells, how much of these documents contained a price. The fourth number tells then the number of decks, as far this is really recorded (in 72% of the cases, the other are noted with "0"). So the final number, which is given as the "Total" (1831 decks between 1453-1465), is naturally not the true number of imported decks, but below this true number.
A way to calculate this true number would be 1831*107 / 77. which would lead to c. 2544, and would be based on the assumption, that the missing number could be replaced by the average number of the better documented decks. However, studying the critical documents in detail, it seems, that missing numbers likely more often indicate high numbers than low numbers, perhaps so that the true number of imported decks has to be searched between 3000 and 3500, but possibly 5000 is not totally impossible.
Naturally this number also can't include smuggled decks or decks, which went to Rome for other reasons in a free-of-charge mode.
There are 13 years recorded, of which 3.5 (1454, 1455, 1459 and the half of 1456) are missing at all. If I divide "2544 (low value) and 5000 (high value)" by "9.5 years ", I get roughly something like 270 - 540 for a year. As possible buyers for the decks we have in Rome naturally a lot of tourists and estimated 30.000 - 40.000 inhabitants.
Roughly I come to a 1% probability, that a Roman bought one Trionfi deck in a year (a deck, which went through the recording office), that's the highest value, it might be more probable, that it's lower.
Trionfi decks, so Esch, never came via ship, but always on the land way. Some of the more important merchants are recognized as "from Florence" or " importing Florentine goods". The major man is Pierozzo di ser Francesco (from Florence), who caused 27 documents (25%) and imported 42% of all recorded decks. 7 of 15 persons, which more than once appeared in these years with Trionfi decks, are either recognized persons of Florence or had goods of Florence.
Another recognized group of merchants are curiously Flemish, 2 are from "Brügge" or Brugia and another also from this region. These 3 appear often together in the office (which means, they likely had traveled together) and in this way this group seems to have belonged to 2 others, Bartholomeo de Nicolo and Johanni Tornieri (from these both no original location is reported).
Following the recorded Trionfi deck numbers of this 5-men-group (392+216++0+74+34 = 715) their total number is similar high as that from the trader Pierozzo (759).
Esch considers it as probable, that the decks of the 3 Flemish merchants were made of Flemish production, cause the things, that they imported, were mostly from their home land.
Well, in the relevant period Burgundy is on its height, then of some more importance as the struggling kingdom of England and perhaps even more important than France. A few years after the period Italy feared, that the troops of Charles the Bold would attack in Italy. Burgundian traders in Rome are therefore not so surprising, however, that they had something to do with Italian playing card development, seems a Novum.
It's well known, that Tournai (nowadays at the border France/Belgium) once had been a location with excessive playing card production since 1427 till mid of 16th century. Nowadays Cartamundi (Belgium) is a giant in playing card production.
One of the Trionfi.com hypotheses (though seldom discussed) is, that the decks fragments known with the name Guildhall and Goldschmidt (Kaplan I, p. 110 + 111) are a Belgian/French production, somehow connected to the presence of the later French king Louis XI in Genappe, Belgium, in the period 1456-61. Louis had been Dauphin then and ruled in the Dauphine in the neighborhood to Savoy , when his father, the king of France, tried to capture him (1456) and Louis escaped to the duke of Burgundy in protected exile. The wife of Filippo Maria Visconti (marriage 1427) had been an aunt of the wife of Louis, therefore Louis should have known well about Italian playing card habits.
The Goldschmidt cards include a card with a fish, and this fish is the heraldic sign of the Dauphine.
A painter of the Milanese court visited the painter Rogier van Weyden (himself "from Tournai") as a pupil on the suggestion of Bianca Maria Visconti, and then got a commission from Louis, while this had been still in Genappe in spring 1461. The case caused trouble, and Bianca Maria had to use good words to keep her painter in the workshop of van Weyden.
This was seen as the possible production date of Flemish decks in Milanese style ... earlier.
Now, from Esch's listings, we have for 1457 a note about a "cista picola con carte da jocare, trunfi" imported by Flemish merchant Loyski merciaro, and for Johanni Tornieri (who is not recognized as Flemish, but traveled occasionally with those, who are recognized as such) we have "1 paio trunfi, 4 doz. carte" already in 1456 .
With the name "Tornieri" we meet a riddle on the list, which I marked with red border on the table.
The last of all his 15 documents (inclusive those, which only contained playing cards) in 12 years (1452 - 1463) reads "20 doz. triunfi picholi" (estimated value by the custom official is 2.5 ducats). "doz." means "dozen", so if one counts here correctly this should have been 240 decks (20x12) for 2.5 ducats.
If the Roman ducat had been the normal Florentine ducat, this should be calculated 102 soldi x 2.5 = 260 Soldi [earlier I calculated 80 at this place instead of 102, but I corrected myself, cause the year 1461 knew a relation of 1 ducat = 102 soldi, 80 had been a value in the 1420s] and 260 Soldi divided by 240 decks, which makes c. 1.06 soldi for each deck, and this would have been equal to the price of the lowest priced normal decks in Florence (silk dealer lists)in the 1440 and 1450s and far lower than the other Trionfi decks (as far I understand the Italian money at this time).
[This calculation is based on the idea, that the Roman ducat was equal to the Florentine ducat, however, there were different ducats with different values in Florence then (difference possibly c. 20%). As better information is missing, this must be regarded as a provisional calculation, also the others, which follow.]
The cheapest Trionfi deck value, that I got from other calculations is also from 1463, Pierozzo di ser Francesco imports "4 doz. triunfi sensa oro" (estimated 3,9 ducats by the custom official).
4x12 = 48 and (3.9 / 48) x 102 = 8.28 Florentine soldi for each deck. Tornieri's "10 denari" for one deck is only c. 13% of this other cheapest price. The number of 240 Trionfi decks in one single import action hadn't been reached before, in 1461 I see once "7 doz." by Pierozzo and "6 doz, triumphi da jocare" and "6 doz. carte da giocare" (so totally 144 decks, but only 72 Trionfi decks) by Loyski, the Flemish merchant in 1462.
Then after 1463 (Tornieri's 240 Trionfi is the last playing card entry in 1463) interestingly the numbers show a break-down of the market.
1460 has 192 decks, 1461 has 247, 1462 has 212, 1463 thanks to the 240 decks of Tornieri at the end of the year (Christmas business ?) suddenly 522, 1464 has 70 (dramatic fall) and 1465 has 46.
Normally I would assume in such a case, that there is a reading error or a typo. However, if it gives other signs, and the observable breakdown of the market is a clear sign, then one must consider the possibility, that it's simply true, and one must consider, what it means.
From that, what is known from the silk dealer list (especially the production of Niccolò di Calvello) ...
http://trionfi.com/naibi-aquired#3-2
... we have, that the cheapest prices for playing card decks are then around 1 Soldi
Franco notes at this place:
This cardmaker, "Nicholo di Chalvelo fa i naibi", provides the greatest amount of cards, more than three thousand packs. His supplies are always on a dozen basis – in practice, card amounts that another maker provided in terms of packs, he was able to provide in terms of dozens. Apparently, he had developed a system of production that allowed him to supply most of the packs and at the smallest cost. Only in a couple of cases his cards are indicated as "di forma", but I imagine that all of them were produced with woodblocks (and possibly not even painted).
I don't know, how much cards these decks had, maybe 40-56. From this I calculated, that the cheapest possible Trionfi deck must be a little more than this price, or in the worst case at least for the double price (which would be 2 soldi).
Now is the time of Niccolo di Calvello (1442-1456) a little different from the observed time in the Esch article (1453-1465) and Esch observes (at least for the Trionfi decks), that the price is falling, perhaps also generally for cards (I speculate this only, I still have to check this). In Nicolo di Calvello's time the prices are relative constant.
The market for the silk dealer's time had the cheapest Trionfi decks for 9 soldi (paid from the silk dealer to the supplier, from silk dealer to user one might suspect 10-12 soldi) and had the character, that it aimed at persons with some money.
The Tornieri document looks like a price-breaker story. Tornieri (at least for that, what we can see) is innovative and destroys the former Trionfi business, offering a product for the lowest market, a product, which everybody could buy easily.
How this was possible, is his mystery.
It's plausible, that all other merchants didn't like the development. The 1463 document is the latest document from Tornieri in Rome. For Pierozzo, who had a well established market in Rome we have 2 Trionfi documents for 1464, one without numbers and one with 12 decks (that's very poor for him). In 1465 we have nothing from him, but we know from Esch, that he later continued the business.
From Tornieri it's the last appearance (so declares Esch). Also Bartholomeo di Nicolo disappears, the other person, who accompanied the Flemish merchants. In 1464 he's still recorded with 3 documents, totally 16 Triunfi decks and 2 dozen playing cards.
The name "Johanni Tornieri" sounds to me, as if it might have developed from "Johannes of Tournai".
I checked the name in the web. I found, that a bookseller and book producer in Rome with books about music (c. 1550 - 1591) had the name Giacomo Tornieri (which also is printing business, and for Johanni Tornieri one might suspect "also printing business"). Otherwise it's an established "Italian name" (often present in Verona, which has a nearness to Northern trading ways) and a location near Siena has or had the name.
Well, in the older theories I suspected a change of the market just for the period 1463-1466. This activity of Tornieri might belong to this hypothetical "change of the market", but it still is possible, that Esch's number is just a reading error or a typo.
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On the list there are marked in red the names "Giovanni da Pistoia", "Bartolomeo Seragli" and "Johanni de Domenico".
Giovanni da Pistoia was found by Franco Pratesi in Esch's book and he wrote this article:
1453 AN EARLY ARRIVAL OF TRIUMPHS INTO ROME
http://trionfi.com/triunfi-playing-cards-rome
Franco found Bartolomeo Seragli and his commissions to Filippo di Marco in an article of art research. Franco published ...
1453-1458 Florentine triumphs by Filippo di Marco
http://trionfi.com/filippo-di-marco
In this article two document sequences are of interest:
A [3]. Estranei 264, c. 226, left side
Bartolommeo di Paholo Seragli de’ dare...
E adì 10 di marzo [1452/53] f. otto, per lui a Pipo di Marcho portò contanti, sono per uno paio di trionfi richi ebe da lui. f. 8.
B [5] Estranei 264, c. 241, left side
Bartolomeo di Pagholo Seragli de’ dare...
E adì 21 di marzo f. uno largo, per lui a Filipo di Marcho dipintore, portò contanti, sono per parte di lavoro gli à fato. f.1 s.4.
C [6]. Estranei 265, c. 27, left side
Bartolomeo di Pagholo Serragli de’ dare…
E adì 31 di marzo [1453] f. 5 larghi, per lui a Filippo di Marcho dipintore, portò e’ detto contanti, sono per resto di 2 paia di trio[n]fi fatogli, come dise Ghaspare da Ghiaceto. f. 5 s. 18 d. 4.
I think, the 3 Trionfi documents report the production of two worthwhile Trionfi decks in March 1453 by Filippo di Marco, commissioned by Bartolomeo Seragli.
In the list of Esch we find for the year 1453 and for Bartolomeo Seragli the import note of "2 para triunfi da jocare".
So, I think, that the 2 decks, which were imported, were just the two decks, that Filippo di Marco produced and Bartolomeo Seragli commissioned.
The other passage of interest (same article) is here:
E [15]. Estranei 267, c. 98, left side
1455
Bartolomeo di Pagholo Seragli de’ dare…
E adì 6 di settembre f. due, per lui a Pipo dipintore, portò Giovanni di Domenicho contanti, per trionfi. f. 2.
….
E adì 20 detto f. uno, per lui a Pipo dipintore, portò Giovanni di Domenicho contanti, per trionfi. f. 1.
…
E adì 27 detto f. dua larghi, per lui a Pipo di Marcho dipintore, portò Giovanni di Domenicho contanti. f.2 s.6 d.7.
E adì 10 d’otobre f. uno largho, per lui a Filipo di Marcho dipintore, portò contanti, per un paio di trionfi operati. f.2 s.6 d.7.
….
E adì 21 detto, L. trenta, per lui a Filipo di Marcho dipintore, portò contanti: sono per resto di trionfi auti da lui insino a questo dì. f. 7 s.- d.8.
These are 5 documents, and I think, that all relate to the same activity in the year 1455 and the months of September/October (6th of September till 21st of October). Beside Pipo alias Filippo di Marco we also find note about a man called "Giovanni di Domenicho".
Earlier it was found, that this Giovanni de Domenicho should be the same man, who sold Trionfi decks to the silk dealers.
Franco (then unaware of the identity) had written:
Giovanni di Domenico
We only meet Giovanni di Domenico at the end of 1449 and he enters the records in an interesting way. He is at once indicated as dipintore, a painter, and his first supply contains both six packs of trionfi and eight packs of naibi doppi. At least one pack of trionfi had already been sold by the silk-dealers (January 1445)(1), but these seem to be the first packs recorded as acquired. The total price is 4L.18s. and if we assume that the naibi were priced at 4s. as those acquired a few days later, a unit cost of 11s. can be deduced for trionfi, a relatively low price, very similar to the 9s.6d. cost of naibi made by Antonio di Simone.
It seems that the production of Giovanni could substitute, trionfi apart, that of Antonio di Dino, at a similar level of overall quality, but he did not become a frequent supplier, except for a few trionfi. In alternative to Antonio di Dino, whom we find also later on, Matteo Ballerini was apparently preferred, for unknown reasons (maybe just more purchases of silks).
Well, this "Giovanni di Domenico" is the 3rd oldest Trionfi card artist, which we know by name (1. Michelino da Besozzo (Milan), 2. Jacopo Sagramoro (Ferrara), 3. Giovanni di Domenico, Florence).
He sold 6 Trionfi decks to the silk dealers for likely 11 soldi each in December 1449. In 1450 he is still the "only one name in Florence", in January 1451 "Antonio di Dino" appears as the second and "Antonio vochata il Chico" appears as the 3rd in November 1452.
Giovanni was active for the silk dealers till 1453.
Then in 1455 he's involved in the business of Seragli and Filippo di Marco, the role, which he plays in the production, is not clear by the documents. I interpret, that Giovanni di Domenico prepared woodcuts used for serial Trionfi card production and for this work he received money at 3 opportunities. All 5 documents don't tell anything about the number of the decks beside the 4th document, which speaks of one Trionfi deck (I interpret, that this is only the first deck, used to show and demonstrate the added colors; that's the first time, that Filippo gets some money in the working process) ... the highest sum is paid at the end of the commission (the number of produced decks is not mentioned).
Now we have the Esch report:
There's is no Trionfi card record in 1452 and for 1451 there are no registers for land imports. Registers for ship export exist only occasionally, Esch had two documents for 1428 (Franco Pratesi reported in ...
1428 – NAIBI COMING TO ROME
http://trionfi.com/evx-oldest-known-nai ... rt-to-rome
...) and 10 further documents for 1444-46 and one document in 1451 with "tre ciste" full of cards, totally 57 dozen for estimated 24 ducats (57x12 = 684; 24/684 * 102 = 3.85 Soldi for each deck; the highest number in the known ship imports). Trionfi decks are missing in the ship imports generally.
The land import in 1452 knows not about Trionfi decks, and generally the number of imports is small. The ship imports show some traffic.
But twice Johanni de Domenico appears in Rome with totally 30 playing card decks.
In 1453 we've 3 documents of Trionfi decks, the two decks of Bartolomeo Seragli are the first in Rome (Folio number 54), the Johanni de Domenico merciaio is the second with "8 para carto cio è treunfi da jocare" (Folio number 76) for estimated 1.7 ducats. Franco interprets - himself not totally sure - that this means 8 complete Trionfi decks. This would mean (1.7/8) * 102 = 21.68 Florentine soldi for each deck
Third is Giovanni da Pistoia with 8 Triunfi decks in (Folio number 100). He also was already active with playing cards in 1452.
These are the 3 oldest Trionfi merchants in the Roman custom register.
Tornieri is already active with playing cards, and the Flemish Loyski and Cornelio have their first appearance in 1453.
I think, that one should assume, that Johanni de Domenico merciaio (active 1452-53)and Giovanni di Domenico nabaio (active 1449-53) and Giovanni di Domenicho (active 1455) are all the same man. There are not so much names in early Trionfi card business, and it's not plausible, that one appears twice, even if the combination of Giovanni and Domenico likely isn't rare.
Beside his activities as playing card producer Giovanni di Domenico is known as the father of the better known artist Francesco Botticini.
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I think, we got a big present from Arnold and Doris Esch with this article. Thank you.