The Emporer
Tarot Card
Original Illuminated Tarot Card
3.5 x 7"
Glair and 23k Gold Leaf on Pasteboard.
Unframed
Original Tarot card handmade using historical techniques and materials. The card was handcrafted by making pasteboard from multiple layers of acid-free paper, finished with a paper wrapper, much like the inspiration piece. The design was embellished with 23k genuine gold leaf, the burnished to a high shine and tooled to create the background pattern. Finally, the figures were painted using glair, a paint made from egg whites and historical pigments.
This card is based on the Emporer card from the Rothschild deck created in 15th Century Florence, Italy.
The game of Tarocchi, or Tarot, is thought to have originated in the 15th Century, possibly in Italy. During the Italian Renaissance, tarot was a card game hundreds of years before being widely used for divination.  Wealthy patrons would have commissioned hand painted decks with elaborate painting and gilding on each of the 78 unique cards. There are only a precious few of these decks still in existence.
 
In modern divination, The Emporer, card number IV,  is part of the Major Arcana. The card meaning relates to stability, authority, power, law and order, and leadership.