Suits in Italy-Cups ( Coppa), Swords ( Spade), Batons ( Bastoni), and Coins ( Denari)-were likewise in place during the same period. The suits familiar to us were adopted from French playing cards, whose suits were standardized by the mid-fifteenth century. Additionally, there are two Jokers, which are used in some games and not in others. Instead of a 1, there is an Ace, which has the highest value. In the English-speaking world, all decks of ordinary playing cards comprise fifty-two cards in four suits-Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs, ranked in that order-with Kings, Queens, and Jacks as face cards and number (or 'pip') cards from 10 through 2. Readers unfamiliar with early European playing cards will be surprised by their total lack of uniformity. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York (MS M.630.26)

Paper (pasteboard) with opaque paint on tooled gold ground 6 3/4 x 7 3/8 in.

5 of Cups, from The Visconti-Sforza Tarot, ca. Taken from Rogerson's Book of Numbers by Barnaby Rogerson (Profile).Workshop of Bonifacio Bembo (Italian, Cremonese, active by 1447/48–died before 1482). Tomorrow: Five components of the soul in Ancient Egypt The Egyptians themselves seem to have developed the pack of cards from China, where numerically printed sheets grouped into four divisions can be traced back to the concubines of the Tang dynasty (618–907).

The triumph of the ace was another French innovation, traditionally added after the revolution in honour of the rabble toppling the king. The French also added the concept of the Queen, for initially the court cards were based on the sequence of king, cavalier and servant – or, as the original Mameluke Egyptians had it, malik (king), naib malik (viceroy) and thaim naib (deputy). The modern four suits seem to have evolved in France, specifically Paris and Rouen, in the late-15th century and were quickly taken up by the English.

The symbols they imported – swords, batons (or wands), cups, and coins (or rings) – are still used in Spain, Greece, Portugal and Italy. The pack of cards came to Europe sometime in the 14th century, imported by Italian merchants who discovered their use during trading missions to the cosmopolitan cities of Mameluke Egypt.

Poker which is spades club diamond