Bridge Cards Wayang

Extremely beautiful deck made in Indonesia by Percetaken Populair printers, featuring wonderful original Wayang court designs on the court cards and Jokers. In addition it has a fabulous Ace of Spades -- a "Gunungan" in Wayang terminology -- that is rich with Wayang imagery and iconography. For those unfamiliar with Wayang, Wikipedia begins its article this way: “Wayang, also known as wajang, traditional form of puppet theatre play originally found in the cultures of Java, Indonesia. The traditional form of puppet theatre art found in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia, wherein a dramatic story is told through shadows thrown by puppets and sometimes combined with human characters. The art form celebrates Indonesian culture and artistic talent; its origins are traced to the spread of Hinduism in the medieval era and the arrival of leather-based puppet arts called thalubomalata from southern India. “Wayang refers to the entire dramatic show. Sometimes the leather puppet itself is referred to as wayang. Performances of shadow puppet theatre are accompanied by a gamelan orchestra in Java, and by gender wayang in Bali. The dramatic stories depict mythologies, such as episodes from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, as well as local adaptations of cultural legends. Traditionally, a wayang is played out in a ritualized midnight-to-dawn show by a dalang, an artist and spiritual leader; people watch the show from both sides of the screen. “UNESCO designated wayang kulit, a shadow puppet theatre and the best known of the Indonesian wayang, as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on 7 November 2003. In return for the acknowledgment, UNESCO required Indonesians to preserve the tradition. Wayang has also been a significant historical art form in Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.” The deck has 52 suited cards, plus 2 Jokers. The cards are square cornered, and although the cards are described as “bridge cards,” they are wide, measuring 88mm x 63mm. They come in the original box.