| Cups | |
|---|---|
 Symbol fromTrentine pattern | |
| Native names |
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| Decks | |
| Invented | 15th century |
The suit ofcups is one of the fourcard suits used in Latin-suitedplaying cards alongsidecoins,swords andbatons. These suits are used inSpanish,Italian and sometarot card packs.
Symbol on Italian pattern cards:
Symbol on Spanish pattern cards:
Symbol on FrenchAluette Spanish pattern cards:
The suit of cups is believed to have derived fromChinese money-suited cards'Myriads ofStrings of cash coins suit. When the cards came into contact with the Islamic world, the Muslims adopted and renamed the suit of myriads as cups. This may have been due to the simplified Chinese character for "myriad" (万) being seen as upside-down.Mahjong maintains themyriad suit by using the traditional form of the character (萬).
InSpain, the suit of cups is known ascopas and thecourt cards are known as therey (king),caballo (knight or cavalier) andsota (knave or valet). The Spanish play with packs of 40 or 48 cards. There are no tens and, in the shorter pack, the nines and eights are also dropped. Thus the suit of cups ranks: R C S (9 8) 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. InItaly the suit is known ascoppe and the corresponding court cards are there,cavallo andfante. Either 40 or 52-card packs are used. In the shorter packs, the tens, nines and eights are removed. Card ranking is thus: R C F (10 9 8) 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.[1]
In 1588, at the request of publisher Leonhardt Heussler in Nuremberg, Germany, the Swiss-German artistJost Amman created a deck of cards where two of the four suits are cups. One set of cups are straight/cylindrical, more akin to drinking vessels. The other set of cups are round/spherical, more akin to pots. Like other early German decks, the 10 rank is represented by aBanner, and the court cards are theUnter,Ober, and King. Many of the cards feature fanciful illustrations demonstrating the artist's skill (a trend started by the Italian tarot).[2][3]
Portuguese-suited playing cards were traded to Japan in the mid-16th century which influenced the development ofKaruta where the 48-cardKomatsufuda and 75-cardUnsun Karuta decks still maintain this suit.
The gallery below shows a suit of cups from a Spanish-suited deck of 48 cards. The pack is of the Castilian pattern:
The gallery below shows a suit of cups from an Italian-suited deck of 52 cards. The pack is of the Bresciane pattern:
The image below shows a suit of cups from a Komatsufuda deck of 48 cards:
The image below shows a suit of cups from an Unsun karuta deck of 75 cards:
Thesuit of goblets, also known as cups, is one of several suits of many tarot card packs used intarot card readings andcartomancy.
