Sola Busca Tarot

The engraved figures are active, muscular and often enigmatic. Historical names, weapons, tools, vessels and dramatic gestures replace the more familiar imagery of later traditions. Its numbered suit cards are not merely arrangements of emblems: they stage human actions around the suit objects, making the deck an essential chapter in the history of illustrated Minor Arcana.

The British Museum describes the Sola Busca as the earliest surviving true tarot preserved in its entirety and dates it to 1491. A complete hand-coloured set is held by the Pinacoteca di Brera. Its imagery should be approached as a Renaissance work with a complex scholarly history; later occult interpretations are interpretations, not settled facts about the makers' intentions.