Introduction

This note reports one further mention of playing cards and Trionfi in the account books of the Cambini family, kept in the Archivio dell’Ospedale degli Innocenti (AOIF). These account books have been carefully studied by several researchers; in particular, Sergio Tognetti, university professor, has been the author of a whole book, in which many data from these account books have been reported and discussed.(1)
I asked for his opinion on the presence of any trade of playing cards in these books and he answered that he did not remember having found any playing cards mentioned there, and concluded that my search was like looking for a needle in a hay-stack.(2) The same judgement, with exactly the same saying, has been suggested to me later on by other professional scholars, who had performed similar researches.
I had already searched in this series of books, however, because these Florentine merchants were among those mentioned for their imports into Rome by Esch in his study.(3) First, I found nothing in these account books;(4) then, in a German book on Florentine painters(5) I read the reference to an old article,(6) in which Trionfi and playing cards had been found - a half century ago! - precisely in these books, with other art objects sold by Cambini. I thus wrote another note(7) for informing card historians about these old data.
Somewhat surprising was the fact that all the packs traded had been produced by one and the same painter, Filippo di Marco. Just in one entry "simple" playing cards were recorded, while most mentions were for Trionfi, seemingly the cards most looked for at the time.
Now, after examining the account books of other merchants,(8) I have again taken up the study of Cambini’s ones, in the hope to find new data of our interest.

1. Searching further entries

I first examined a small part of the Trionfi quotations already reported by Corti and Hartt.(6) I could thus check that these records really existed. However, the word Trionfi was often written in a way that required an expert eye to read it, and, moreover, it was only incidentally present in some lines of records, which mostly were devoted to different goods. My impression, as soon as I verified them, was that I would probably not have been able to find these useful records, without the exact indication given by the previous authors mentioned.
Except for card experts, it is not evident that the word Trionfo could correspond to playing cards. For instance, we can find the same Italian word associated with a typical centre-piece for fruits or cakes. Even if we limit the term to any representation of triumphal subjects, other substrates could have been employed instead of paper cards, mostly wooden tables, such as were used for cassoni or small boxes. In other words, a Trionfo could be any figure with a triumphal subject, painted anywhere, as a decoration.
Not surprisingly, authors who found Trionfi in Cambini books did not realise that they were just playing cards. This misunderstanding was present in the first article(6), but it was repeated in a more recent review(9) of documents kept in the Estranei section of AOIF that are of great interest for the history of fine arts.
For us, the meaning of Trionfi is clear, and we are thus very interested in finding any entries of this kind in the many books kept. It was obvious that finding further entries of our interest would have been much better than verifying entries already found long ago, even if only recently brought to the knowledge of card historians. I have thus selected further books to examine, and leafed through several of them. I could not avoid repeating to me, in front of every further book, that I really was searching for a needle in a hay-stack.
To better explain my situation, I have to admit that leafing through account books without finding any useful entry is for me far from an exceptional case. It is instead the rule in the last months, in which I have "studied", if using this verb is acceptable in this case, dozens of account books of various merchants, without finding anything of our interest. I am thus getting accustomed to search much and retrieve little or nothing - I can accept this work, after all compatible with the activity of a retired person.
Cambini were however among the most efficient exporters to Rome, as indicated by Esch,(3) and their sale of Trionfi made by Filippo di Marco had already been communicated.(6) These should have been hay-stacks full of needles, comparable or even better than the books of Lorenzo di Bartolo and Matteo di Zanobi.(10) I have thus been much disappointed not to find a lot of "our" records in these promising Cambini books.
Up to now, I only found one useful entry, in one account book. The book is described as follows in the AOIF catalogue: «Ricordançe M» 09/12/1461 - 24/12/1462 "Relativo a merci acquistate e vendute su varie piazze nazionali ed europee e a memorie di promesse e contratti attinenti, di Francesco e Carlo di Niccolò Cambini".»(11)

2. The only one entry found

After a long search, I could pin down an entry of our interest.(12) I feel that some time will pass before I search again in Cambini books, after finding there the following small needle. Let us examine it in some detail.

What a scarsella is should already be known to readers of Notturno’s performance.(13) It was precisely in his scarsella that Castalio, one of the players, was keeping his pack of Trionfi:

«Tacete i n’ho trovato una più bella
Vo che faciamo de triomphi un gioco
Chio gli ho qui apunto meco in la scarsella.»

Thus, a pocket or a handbag. Six dozens of them are in leather, three further similar items are coated with velvet.
Then we have five dozen card packs and eight dozen Trionfi. Ten dozen big balls follow (scempie I imagine is associated to a single shell, instead of a double one) with sixty-six gonfiatoi (I suppose they were the corresponding pumps, but am not sure). Then, carnaiolo is an obsolete word for carniere, the term now in use for a game-bag. Maybe a "piccoli" was a smaller version, suitable for feathered game.
Twenty dozen balls follow. I am not sure of having correctly read the word lesina. If it is correct, then its English corresponding word is awl, a tool actually used in manufacturing leather products. Secondo che disse Tommaso di Santi, according to his suggestions.
On the same day, the items mentioned were put in a box and sent to Girolamo Corboli in Venice.

3. Discussion and comments

On the packs made by Filippo di Marco and sold by Cambini(6) I wrote the following comment: «These were items commissioned for export, together with several other costly art objects. Incomparably much more, and cheaper, card packs were by then produced for local purchase and use by common people, triumphs included.»(7) Here we apparently have some specimens of the latter category: even if no price is indicated, it is clear enough from the contents of the shipment that these were ordinary packs of cards and Trionfi.
The destination of Venice has a certain interest, because we have little information on the local trade of playing cards at the time, even though Venetian cardmakers apparently were well-organised and ready to protect their products from foreign imports. (The importance of the Venetian production will become better known, and more evident, in the following century.)
It is not clear for us, on the other hand, which was the particular utilisation of these items by Corboli. In particular, the quantity is somewhat intermediary, too small for a big trade, but at the same time by far too great for a personal use.
It could thus be useful to know something more about the receiver of these cards. Actually, we are fortunate enough to find him mentioned many times in Tognetti’s book.(1) He appears to have been a merchant out of the ordinary; to begin with, he was a Florentine who did not belong to a family of merchants, as was the rule in similar cases. Coming from a rather low status, he had been selected nevertheless as the main Cambini agent in Venice, for all kinds of trade, including great financial operations.
Let me copy a relevant paragraph from Tognetti’s book.

Conclusion

It is certain that also rich bankers and merchants, as the Cambini really were, were involved in the trade of playing cards; this fact may be useful for obtaining, in particular, new data on the early spread of Trionfi. The account books of these merchants have been kept, at least in part; however, finding playing cards recorded there is not a frequent occurrence. In this case, I could only add to the few data already known the shipment of a box containing various goods to Venice in 1462, with – of our specific interest - sixty packs of playing cads and ninety-six of Trionfi.

Footnotes:

  (1) Sergio Tognetti, Il banco Cambini: affari e mercati di una compagnia mercantile-bancaria nella Firenze del 15.secolo. Olshki, Firenze 1999.
  (2) Sergio Tognetti, Personal communication, December 2011.
  (3) Arnold Esch, Economia, cultura materiale ed arte nella Roma del Rinascimento. Roma 2007.
  (4) Franco Pratesi: Early Playing Card Export from Florence
  (5) Werner Jacobsen, Die Maler von Florenz zu Beginn der Renaissance, Dt. Kunstverl., München 2001.
  (6) Gino Corti, Frederick Hartt, The Art Bulletin, 44 (1962) 155-167. Weblink, Jstor article.
  (7) Franco Pratesi: 1453-1458 Florentine triumphs by Filippo di Marco
  (8) Franco Pratesi - Overview
  (9) Richard A. Goldtwhaite’s contribution in: Lucia Sandri, Gli Innocenti e Firenze nei secoli. Studio per Ed. Scelte, Firenze 1996.
(10) Franco Pratesi: Naibi sold by Silk-Dealers and Franco Pratesi: 1431-1460: Naibi aquired by Silk-Dealers
(11) Istituto degli Innocenti
(12) AOIF, Estranei 12640 c. 117v.
(13) Franco Pratesi: 1521 Notturno revisited

Editor's note: We gave in the earliest version of this text the year "1461". Thierry Depaulis paid attention to the condition, that the old 1461 February 19 is in our time counting method 1462 February 19. Thanks for the correction.
Actually 1461 February 19 would be nowadays something like "28th of February" (thanks to the 10 omitted days in 1582, as ordered by Pope Gregory XIII), but then likely everybody would be confused. In old Florence the new year started at 25th of March, not, as nowadays, at 1st of January.