Zug Jass playing cards

Full deck of Swiss-suited playing cards, consisting of 36 cards with Zug motifs. Besides the traditional suits of “Schellen” (bells) and “Schilten” [shields], the other two suits are cherries and water lilies, which are not traditional. Each suit is dedicated to a specific theme: the bells in yellow to the carnival, the shields in blue to history, the cherries in red to kirsch (cherry spirit) and the water lilies in green to bodies of water.

A 16-page leaflet explains the drawings on the court cards and the Zug traditions and quirks, including the carnival characters “Greth Schell” and “Räbegäuggel”.

The illustrator Christian Bisig (born in 1953) presented the deck of cards to the general assembly of the “Cartophilia Helvetic” society (founded in 1978), which met at the Museum Burg Zug in 2000. Other playing cards shown on the same occasion were 18th century specimens found during the renovation of Zug Castle (including Jass cards, inv. no. 3687 and Tarot cards, inv. no. 3678, which are currently on display in the Blue Room of the Museum Burg Zug).

Inventory number: 8524
Date: 2000 (Inschrift)
Materials/techniques: Buchdruck
Size: Objektmass (H x B): 9.3 x 6.0 cm
Connection to individuals/companies: Christian Bisig (geb. 1953), Illustrator

Conditions of use and reproduction:
The images in the database are the property of the Museum Burg Zug. They form a digital catalogue of the collection and are intended for illustration purposes only. Any usage by publishing, transmitting or editing of the images or any other commercial usage is subject to enquiry and requires express permission by the rights holder (Museum Burg Zug).
Information on how to order copies can be found here.

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