Cavalier de Deniers and his Polo Club

Cavalier de Deniers looks like he is holding a Polo Mallet,
or at least a "club" designed for entertainment purposes.

Image: Fournier (Conver) Le Tarot de Marseille
http://www.wischik.com/lu/tarot/cards/o_12knig.jpg

I was looking at this card and asked myself, what is he going
to do with that club ~ smack the denier floating up in the air?

And after awhile I began thinking he might be a Sportsman,
riding lazily along to meet up with his mates and have a go.

Purely speculation by me, of course, but then ~ what's it for?

Interesting Fulgour,

It occurred to me that he is the only Cavalier who is not holding the emblem of his suit, but a club/baton/Polo Mallet instead. I wonder how 'sportsman' would fit in with the energy of the suit of coins too...... It's certainly a sport for the wealthy.

Polo Player

Moonbow* said:

Interesting Fulgour,

It occurred to me that he is the only Cavalier who is not holding the emblem of his suit, but a club/baton/Polo Mallet instead. I wonder how 'sportsman' would fit in with the energy of the suit of coins too...... It's certainly a sport for the wealthy.

Click to expand...

And maybe, too, it shows that in order to make a good living one must be active, to go about it with the energy of the Bâtons. I'm not sure polo mallets existed in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, however, at least not in Europe. Bâtons - staffs - were humble weapons, and also, the companion of pilgrims. Could this mean that in order to live well, materially, one must also be willing to explore, to take on a spiritually active dimension? That the link - made implicitly by the Deniers - between the material and the spiritual can be realised through the active, the creative?

But if we are talking sports - that thing the Cavalier carries looks to me more like a baseball bat - is his great asset a wealth of home runs? Is he an early modern Babe?

Andrea Pollett of Roma Italy is one of those hard cases who insist
Tarot was the slovenly mutation of some absurd medieval game.
Whenever you read about how Tarot was just a game you can be
sure the author has simply given up trying to figure out what it is,
and now pretends to know what it was. Kids with any set of cards
can make a game. The bible can be used to script cartoon movies.

Here's what I think: If Tarot was a game it was badly designed.
Are we supposed to think that people liked using 78 cards...?

But even "historians" can root out a few acorns now and then:
Tarot of Marseille Part 1 (Andy's Playing Cards) Page VII:

http://it.geocities.com/a_pollett/cards43.htm

"Having remained basically unchanged for some 500 years, the Tarot
of Marseille is a clear example of... tradition... the 56 suit cards follow
a precise scheme, maintaining odd details, such as the cudgel carried
by the knave* [sic] of Coins (despite the suit), or the name of the knave
of Coins spelt vertically, whereas any other card of the deck has a name
spelt horizontally. Such details are found in any old edition faithful to
this pattern, regardless of where it came from..." (*Chevalier)

Fulgour, have a peek at the Visconti thread - people LOVE playing with 78 cards. Le jeu de tarot is a very dynamic game, with championships, online competitions, etc.

Point taken! I'm just glad billiards doesn't use 78 balls.

*

Le Cavalier de Deniers with his "gaming wand" gives me
the impression of being a Knightly Joueur ready to play!
His eyes are set on that gold denier like it's a brass ring.

Perhaps this Cavalier is carrying some things of value for his master, the Roy de Deniers and carries the club to ward off potential thieves?

The Deniers have always seemed like the "new money" family in the Marseilles.

Fulgour said:

Point taken! I'm just glad billiards doesn't use 78 balls..

Click to expand...

God forbid! So am I Mind you, that would make for interesting marathon games on huge billiard tables.

Fulgour said:

Le Cavalier de Deniers with his "gaming wand" gives me
the impression of being a Knightly Joueur ready to play!
His eyes are set on that gold denier like it's a brass ring.

Click to expand...

Mesdames, messieurs, faites vos jeux! Do you know, that's an excellent image - Cavalier, dashing and active - knights like risk, don't they? - but Denier, materially minded - how does he make the two work together? Yes, he goes to the Casino and throws it all on Blackjack and roulette! (and takes with him the gorgeous, sexy, thrilling Reyne de Bâton, who will wear her most alluring red dress and loose all his money. He carries a stick in case his creditors are after him).