Playing cards were invented in China 1,000 years ago but were unknown in Europe before the mid-14th century. It is believed that cards as we know them were introduced to Spain from North Africa when both areas were under Muslim control. French cards, such as those displayed here, are the closest visually to those we use today. These paper cards have yet to be cut and were never used, but the final product would have been fairly affordable.
<bdi><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q28949599" class="extiw" title="d:Q28949599"><span title="Person; male; Playing-card maker; publisher/printer; French">Andre Perrocet</span></a>
</bdi>
between 1491 and 1524 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1500-00-00T00:00:00Z/6,P1319,+1491-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,+1524-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Walters_Art_Museum" class="extiw" title="w:en:Walters Art Museum"><span title="art museum in Baltimore, Maryland, United States">Walters Art Museum</span></a>: <a href="https://thewalters.org/" rel="nofollow"><img alt="Nuvola filesystems folder home.svg" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg/20px-Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg.png" decoding="async" width="20" height="20" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg/30px-Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg/40px-Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128"></a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://thewalters.org/">Home page</a> <a href="https://art.thewalters.org/detail/78634" rel="nofollow"><img alt="Information icon.svg" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/20px-Information_icon.svg.png" decoding="async" width="20" height="20" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/30px-Information_icon.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/40px-Information_icon.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="620" data-file-height="620"></a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://art.thewalters.org/detail/78634">Info about artwork</a>