Four of Pentacles in 6 decks
The same card as 6 decks draw it, five and a half centuries apart. What stays the same is the card’s core; what changes is where a reading can find something new. The meanings are written for the Rider–Waite–Smith picture; the descriptions here are of each deck’s own. Not in Oswald Wirth, which has no Four of Pentacles card.
Side by side
Choose any two decks and read the pictures against each other.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909
A crowned man sits on a stone bench clutching a pentacle to his chest with both arms, with another balanced on his crown and one under each foot. A city stands behind him. He is holding so much that he cannot move or see the city.
Lequart, Paris, 19th century
Four coins sit at the corners around a central yellow shield bearing three dark fleurs-de-lis. Red scrolling leaves spread above the shield and yellow leaves below, with a red four-petal flower beneath it. Green flowers grow from the stem at the top and bottom.
Marseille number cards are read through their number and suit; the written meaning here gives the scene the Rider-Waite-Smith card adds.
Rider–Waite–Smith
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909
A crowned man sits on a stone bench clutching a pentacle to his chest with both arms, with another balanced on his crown and one under each foot. A city stands behind him. He is holding so much that he cannot move or see the city.
Tarot de Marseille
Lequart, Paris, 19th century
Four coins sit at the corners around a central yellow shield bearing three dark fleurs-de-lis. Red scrolling leaves spread above the shield and yellow leaves below, with a red four-petal flower beneath it. Green flowers grow from the stem at the top and bottom.
Marseille number cards are read through their number and suit; the written meaning here gives the scene the Rider-Waite-Smith card adds.
Tarot de Viéville
Jacques Viéville, c. 1650
Four coins sit in two pairs with a shield divided grey and red between them. Red and grey ribbons curl around the coins, with flowers at the top and bottom and leaves at the sides.
Viéville number cards show only their suit symbols; read them through number and suit, with the written meaning as a guide.
Visconti-Sforza
Bonifacio Bembo, c. 1450
Four gold coins in blue scalloped rings and orange outer rings stand in two pairs, above and below a curled gold and white ribbon inscribed 'abon droyt' in red. Green vines with blue and red flowers fill the margins and the spaces between.
In the Visconti-Sforza deck the number cards show only their suit symbols, and the trumps are unnamed and unnumbered.
Sola Busca
c. 1491
A plump naked woman with a crescent on her head and loose hair walks barefoot, a blue cloth trailing from her. She carries a purple shell-like basket holding three coins on her shoulder and a fourth coin in her hand. The numeral 4 is at the left.
Soimoi
Mike Koz, 2025
Three figures work together in a dark bamboo grove under a glowing red paper lantern: a woman in red carves a gold disc with a chisel, a young man with a topknot leans over her, and an older grey-bearded man engraves another. Four gold discs carved with three-comma swirls stand among them. A dark cat sits at lower right and red leaves lie on the ground.