The Six of Parrots, from the series of round playing cards

The Six of Parrots, from the series of round playing cards

Master PW of Cologne

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This work is part of the Round Card Game, a series consisting of seventy-two engraved sheets (seventy playing cards, with a title and back banner page). Believed to be the first western European set of round playing cards (a tradition popular in India), Master PW’s deck is unique in that it has five suits—roses, columbines, carnations, parrots, and hares—rather than the customary four. No impressions of these sheets were laid onto card, indicating they were never used. Master PW’s series, dating from the first decade of the sixteenth century, is believed to be the artist’s last engraved work.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Six of Parrots, from the series of round playing cardsThe Six of Parrots, from the series of round playing cardsThe Six of Parrots, from the series of round playing cardsThe Six of Parrots, from the series of round playing cardsThe Six of Parrots, from the series of round playing cards

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.