The Chariot

An armoured figure rides a canopy of stars, a black sphinx and a white sphinx harnessed before him, a walled city at his back. Pamela Colman Smith drew him in 1909 as forward motion held in balance — the two sphinxes pulling opposite ways, mastered by the driver's will. Smith gave the card its winged emblem and starry crown working quickly for a flat fee, and was left off the credit for the better part of a century. Look for the crescent shoulder-plates, the city she set behind him, and the 'PCS' monogram low in the frame.

Maker

Pamela Colman Smith, for A. E. Waite

Date

1909

Medium of the original

Plate

Original held by

Published London, 1909 · scan: Wikimedia Commons

Credit

Published London, 1909 · scan: Wikimedia Commons

Rights

Public domain, verified

Catalogue number

PA-00434