Tarot is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots, tarot-playing cards spread to most of Europe, evolving into a family of games that includes German Grosstarok and modern games such as French Tarot and Austrian Königrufen. In the late 18th century French occultists made elaborate, but unsubstantiated, claims about their history and meaning, leading to the emergence of custom decks for use in divination via tarot card reading and cartomancy. Thus, there are two distinct types of tarot packs in circulation: those used for card games and those used for divination. However, some older patterns, such as the Tarot de Marseille, originally intended for playing card games, are occasionally used for cartomancy.
Card player with Austrian tarot cards (Industrie und Glück pattern)
Trumps of the Tarot de Marseilles, a standard 18th-century playing card pack, later also used for divination
The magician from the Pierpont Morgan Bergamo Visconti-Sforza pack
The Cary sheet, a partial uncut sheet of Milanese tarocchi, c. 1500
Trionfi are 15th-century Italian playing card trumps with allegorical content related to those used in tarocchi games. The general English expression "trump card" and the German "trumpfen" have developed from the Italian "Trionfi". Most cards feature the personification of a place or abstraction.
Cary sheet, Milan c. 1500.
Earliest known list of trumps (Venice, c.1480-1500)
Met sheet, Ferrara c. 1500.
The Emperor, the only surviving trump from the Rothschild-Bassano deck. He carries a florin while holding a sceptre surmounted by the fleur-de-lis, both symbols of Florence.