this page from site of Andrea Pollett
THE HOFAMTERSPIEL
~ NOTE ~
The reprint of the Hofamterspiel shown in this page is by Piatnik (Austria).
Notes in square brackets along the text refer to the booklet which accompanies the edition, written by a team of scholars:

[1] Fritz Koreny
[2] Georg Kugler
[3] Michael Dummett
[4] Detleff Hoffmann

THE HOFAMTERSPIEL
The Hofamterspiel is a late mediaeval deck containing 48 cards, all of which have survived.
Together with other playing cards, it belonged to the great collection of art treasures gathered in the 16th century by archduke Ferdinand of Tirol, and it is mentioned in the collection's catalogue
[1], the only known record of the deck.
These large cards measure 97 mm x 140 mm (3? in x 5? in); they feature wood engravings skilfully decorated with vivid colours, and a few additions in finely embossed silver and gold leaf.
It is impossible to assess the precise age of the deck, though around the mid 15th century appears to be a quite reasonable dating. It is also very likely that the geographic area where the cards were made was southern Germany, i.e. today's Austria 
[1].

THE SUBJECTS
Unlike other known decks of the same age belonging to German culture, such as the Hofjagdspiel, whose illustrations featured hunting scenes, and whose suits were falcons, ducks, deers, etc., the Hofamterspiel was basically inspired by the standard social structure of royal courts during the late Middle Age. The illustrations picture the many different members of a typical household 
[2], with their names in archaic German, whence the name Hofamterspiel given to the cards (literally meaning "householder's deck").
Therefore, what makes these cards particularly interesting is not only their intrinsic value for the early history of playing cards, but also the direct evidence they provide for the knowledge of social hierarchy and everyday's life in late mediaeval courts.

On the basis of written sources which describe no longer existing decks, it has also been suggested that the concept of playing cards whose values were inspired by social levels probably already existed in the late 14th century: this would mean that the "household" system might have been an earlier creation than the "hunting" system [1], thus representing the very first variety of local deck in the German world.

THE SUIT SYSTEM
Another important difference with the above-mentioned "hunting" decks is the choice of suits: in the Hofamterspiel they are represented by four different shields. The emblems are those of Germany (a black eagle on yellow background), France (golden fleur-de-lys on blue background), Bohemia (a white rampant lion on red background) and Hungary (white and red horizontal stripes): by the 15th century, these were the four main countries in central Europe.
Therefore, the author's intention was probably to celebrate with this deck a local monarch or ruler, eventually Ladislas Postumus, king of Hungary and Bohemia from 1453 to 1457, according to a theory by Arpad Weixlgartner 
[1].
Obviously, the choice of suit symbols in the
Hofamterspiel provides an interesting analogy with the Shields suit of Swiss playing cards, still in use today.

THE 48 CHARACTERS AND THEIR RANKS
Each of the Hofamterspiel's cards features a different character, almost as a pack made of 48 courts. In each suit, the values rank from I (the lowest) to X, and they end with a queen and a king (the highest card). The king and queen do not feature a number, and are also the only two cards not stating the character's occupation, so that they might be considered the actual court cards of the deck.
In all four suits, the I shows a fool (Narr, or its female equivalent Narryn), while the two highest cards next to the king and queen are the master of the household or major domo (Hofmeister, X, who was in charge of the court during the ruler's absence), and the marshal (Marschalk, IX, in charge of any duty that involved the use of horses or carriages, such as the king's travels, etc.).

With the exception of two subjects (the Jungfrawe, lady-in-waiting, card VI in all suits, and the Trometer, trumpeter, card IIII in Germany and Hungary), all other characters are individual, changing from suit to suit.
The social rank of each of them may be easily understood, according to the higher or lower value the relevant card is worth in the deck. Therefore, for instance, a doctor (Artzt, Bohemia suit) would have occupied more or less the same social level of a chaplain (Capplan, Germany suit), or of a chancellor (Kanzler, Hungary suit), or of a household mistress of a queen or a princess (Hofmeistryn, France suit), so all these subjects appear on cards VIII belonging to different suits.

A full list of the characters and their values is shown in the following table: for easier reference, subjects not appearing in all four suits are shown in pale green.

                   TABLE OF THE HOFAMSTERSPIEL'S CHARACTERS

value suit BOHEMIA FRANCE GERMANY HUNGARY
...


...


X


IX


VIII


VII


VI


V


IIII


III


II


I
Konig
king

Konigin
queen

Hofmeister
household master

Marschalk
marshal

Artzt
doctor

Kammer
[mei]ster
chamberlain

Junckfrawe
lady-in-waiting

Valkner
falconer

Trometer
trumpeter

Herolt
herald

Hefneryn
potter (female)

Narr
fool
Konig
king

Konigin
queen

Hofmeister
household master

Marschalk
marshal

Hofmeistryn
household mistress

Schenk
cup-bearer

Junckfrawe
lady-in-waiting

Koch
cook

Marstaler
master of the stables

Hofsneider
tailor

Jeger
huntsman

Nerryn
fool (female)
Konig
king

Konigin
queen

Hofmeister
household master

Marschalk
marshal

Capplan
chaplain

Truchses
steward

Junckfraw
lady-in-waiting

Kellner
wine-cellar man

Parbirer
barber

Renner
jouster

Bott
messenger

Narr
fool
Konig
king

Konigin
queen

Hofmeister
household master

Marschalk
marshal

Kantzler
chancellor

Kuchenmeist
[er]
chief cook

Junckfrawe
lady-in-waiting

Schutz
archer

Trometer
trumpeter

Vischner
fish-monger

Pfister
baker

N
[er]ryn
fool (female)

Ranking by social hierarchy appears similar to that of Mantegna's Tarot's first group of cards.
Among the list of subjects, the lowest cards of the series seem to have elements in common with other obsolete decks, though not as old as the Hofamterspiel.

The Bavarian-Austrian Hexenspiel, belonging to the so-called group of Cuckoo decks, had a card named Narr which featured a fool (although the same subject in German and Austrian tarot decks is called Skus, after the French Excuse, and looks like a joker).

In some respects, the four Narr and Narryn also link to the knaves of the deck, which featured two male and two female characters; also German decks from the 16th century, such as the Ulmer Spiel and the Stuttgarter Spiel, had two male knaves and two female ones 
[4].

Which game or games the Hofamterspiel was specifically created for is virtually impossible to tell, since no other source except Ferdinand of Tirol's catalogue entry specifically mentions the deck or it's use. Due to the very fine quality of the cards, and because of the particular structure of the ranks (six matching subjects in all four suits, and six mismatching ones, with a fool as last card of the suit), it appears likely that the Hofamterspiel was used for playing a trick-taking game, in which the Narr and Narryn might have acted as jokers [3].
However, it is interesting how several female characters too were part of the card game, as well as of daily life at court, at many different hierarchic levels: queen, mistress of the household (VIII), lady-in-waiting (VI), potter (II), fool (I).