Restoration Process
The restoration consisted of meticulously redrawing and recoloring the images. We also clarified many of the details to create consistency. Our goal was not to create an exact reproduction, but an elegant and refined deck that inspires the imagination of the modern reader.
Historic Information
When we restore Tarot de Marseille decks, we always try to find as many copies of the original deck as possible. However, there is only one copy of the Jean Noblet Tarot, which is preserved at the National Library of France.
One of the challenges in restoring the Jean Noblet deck is that it is missing the 6 - 10 of Swords. There is no way for us to know what these cards looked like. So, how can we restore cards that don't exist?
Luckily, there are other contemporary decks such as the Jean Dodal Tarot and the Nicolas Conver Tarot, which share an almost identical sequence to the other pip cards. It's safe to assume that the sequence for the missing Swords should also be the same. We copied this sequence and used it as the foundation for our recreation.
Next, we recreated the elements in the cards by referencing the 2 - 5 of Swords in the Jean Noblet deck. In the above image, you will see that the flower on the 6 of Swords is based on the 4 of Swords, the flower on the 8 of Swords is based on the 2 of Swords, and the Swords on 7, 9, and 10 are based on the 3 and 5 of Swords.
While recreating these cards, we made a few interesting observations. First, as the number on the pip cards increases, the center flowers and swords get smaller. Second, the four small flowers around the swords start with red at the top left and then turn to blue. Finally, on the 10 of swords, the two sword handles replace the lower flowers.
We also found that the 2 and 3 of swords have other slight differences from the rest of the sequence.
What differences can you see?
