The deck known as Mulūk wa-nuwwāb ((Mulūk wa-nuwwāb (kings and viceroys))

Hand-drawn and hand-painted Mamluk Playing Cards, XV or early XVI century. The original pack of cards is in the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul and measures 252 x 95 mms, which makes them rather large to hold in one's hand. The pack of cards in the Topkapi Museum is incomplete and consists of 47 cards, divided into 4 suits, with 14 cards per suit, so that the complete pack would have contained 56 cards. The cards illustrated here are from a reconstructed facsimile edition published by Aurelia Books, Brussels and Louvain, 1972. The boxed set also contains a booklet produced by Jan Bauwens which contains the Arabic inscriptions on the cards translated by Prof. Tangi of the University of Istanbul.