Tarot History Forum

OK. Would anyone think this is the headdress of the Monkey on the Bateleur card Cary Yale?
It is of course modern cartoon.
http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?imgurl=h ... 29,r:5,s:0

If so, I can tell you I have looked pre 1500 and cannot find a dressed monkey like this at all.
~Lorredan

Yes, except that the monkey's turban seems flatter and appears to have another tier on top (with a button on top of that), a seemingly more solid shape, slightly wider at the top than the bottom. I could imagine that in the case of a person that this would be part of a head-shaped form which was placed on the head first before the turban cloth was wrapped around it to be fastened by an ornament. I'm sure I can remember similar headdress illustrations in the Arabian Nights - will look later.

Pen

It is Ok Pen- the Monkey is dressed as a Moor or Mauri- an un baptised person/boy.
It would seem somehow Tarot is about Pentecost or WhitSunday- the festival of Summer Marriages, Baptism, the Holy Spirit and the yearly obligation to confess and take Holy Communion; the Knighthood conferred on Boys at Pentecost and King Arthur. How is that for a mix? 50 Days after Easter- The establishment of Christian theme to the Pagan festival of Summer. The start of Christianity really.
~Lorredan

Goodness Lorredan, you can tell all that from the way the monkey's dressed!?

Re. the Tarot being about Pentecost in particular - I haven't seen this idea presented quite in such a positive way before. Do you then see the way the monkey is dressed as a deliberate symbol indicative of imminent baptism in order to point to the festival of Pentecost/Whit Sunday? Would that not be somewhat blasphemous?

But...so far then, the Cary Sheet seems to be no earlier than 1500, if I understand correctly. It's a fascinating sheet - if only we could see all the cards.

Pen

Goodness Lorredan, you can tell all that from the way the monkey's dressed!?

heaven's no Pen

I have struggled and struggled with the theme of Tarot at it's start.
I know from what Ross has discovered- people thought it was about finding God.
People in the 18th Century thought it the same- except it was a different God.
~Lorredan

I was in Geneva this weekend (first time, lovely city!!), and I saw this poster... here's our guy again!
Soooooo... modern day Switzerland... yep. I'm feeling more and more that the Cary Sheet comes from somewhere near this region.... a mix of Swiss, French and Italian.

I'm going for that region too, Robert. I'm thinking it's much earlier than normally suspected - "much" meaning a few decades. So I'm leaning to Burgundy, around 1480.

Too bad your guy doesn't have a pitchfork. At least you know the number to Hell though -
078 760 77 56

Ross G. R. Caldwell wrote: 078 760 77 56

78... 56... It's like the Steele Sermon guy said, Tarot is a ladder leading to the depths of hell.

Ross G. R. Caldwell wrote:

Ross G. R. Caldwell wrote: 078 760 77 56

78... 56... It's like the Steele Sermon guy said, Tarot is a ladder leading to the depths of hell.

HA HA HA HA HA!!!

LOL. Love you Ross.

This is the doorway of the Annunziata church in Levanto (Ligury). The bookstand and throne of the Madonna are similar to those of the Pope. Also the spiral folds of the clothes are similar e.g. to those of the Emperor.
Unluckily, I wasn't able to find a reliable date for this bas-relief. Some sources say XV century, others XVI. The main body of the church was build between 1449 and 1460. It seems reasonable to me to assume that the sculpture dates to that period, but who knows.