French playing cards

Standard 32 card deck with French national pattern

French playing cards (jeu de cartes) are cards that use the French suits of trèfles (clovers or clubs♣), carreaux (tiles or diamonds♦), cœurs (hearts♥), and piques (pikes or spades♠). Each suit contains three face cards; the valet (knave or jack), the dame (lady or queen), and the roi (king). Aside from these aspects, decks can include a wide variety of regional and national patterns which often have different deck sizes. In comparison to Spanish, Italian, German, and Swiss playing cards, French cards are the most widespread due to the geopolitical, commercial, and cultural influence of France and the United Kingdom in the past two centuries. Another reason for their expansion was the simplicity of the suit insignia which simplifies mass production and the popularity of whist, contract bridge, and the recent poker boom.

History

German Hearts
 Bells
 Acorns
 Leaves
French Hearts
 Tiles
 Clovers
 Pikes

Playing cards arrived in Europe from Mamluk Egypt around 1370 and were already reported in France in 1377. The French suit insignia was derived from German suits around 1480. Between the transition from the suit of bells to tiles there was a suit of crescents.[1]

One of the most distinguishing features of the French cards is the Queen. Mamluk cards and their derivatives, the Latin suited and German suited cards, all have three male face cards. Queens began appearing in tarot decks in the early 15th century and some German decks replaced two kings with queens. While other decks abandoned the Queen in non-tarot decks, the French kept them and dropped the Knight as the middle face card. Face card design was heavily influenced by Spanish cards that used to circulate in France. One of the most obvious traits inherited from Spain are the standing kings. Kings from Italian, Portuguese, or Germanic cards are seated.

In the 19th century, corner indices and rounded corners were added and cards became reversible, relieving players from having to flip face cards right side up. The index for Aces and face cards usually follow the local language but many decks of the Parisian pattern use the numeral "1" for aces.

Current standard patterns

The French suited deck has spawned many regional variations known as standard patterns based on their artwork and deck size. The Parisian pattern was heavily exported throughout continental Europe which is why most French-suited patterns share a similar appearance. The English pattern, based on the extinct Rouennais pattern, is the most well known pattern in the world.

Note that patterns don't factor in Jokers as they are a very recent addition which leads to every manufacturer making their own trademarked depiction of this card.

Parisian pattern

Charles, King of Hearts in the portrait officiel

The Parisian pattern came to dominate in France around 1780 and became known as the portrait officiel. From the 19th century to 1945, the appearance of the cards used for domestic consumption was regulated by the French government. All cards were produced on watermarked paper made by the state to show payment of the stamp tax.[2] The most common deck sold in France is the 32 card deck with the 2 to 6 removed and 1s instead of Aces. The French have a unique habit of associating their face cards with historic or mythical personages which survives only in the portrait officiel.[3]

Card Name (portrait officiel)
King of spades David
King of hearts Charles (possibly Charlemagne, or Charles VII, in which case Rachel (see below) would be the pseudonym of his mistress, Agnès Sorel)
King of diamonds Cesar
King of clubs Alexandre
Queen of spades Pallas
Queen of hearts Judith
Queen of diamonds Rachel (either biblical, historical (see Charles above)
Queen of clubs Argine (possibly an anagram of regina, which is Latin for queen, or perhaps Argea, wife of Polybus and mother of Argus)
Knave of spades Hogier (a knight of Charlemagne)
Knave of hearts La Hire (comrade-in-arms to Joan of Arc, and member of Charles VII's court)
Knave of diamonds Hector
Knave of clubs Lancelot (since 1813, from 1613-1813 this card carried the manufacturer's name, before 1613 it was Judas Maccabeus)

Belgian-Genoese and Piedmontese patterns

The Belgian-Genoese pattern is very similar to its Parisian parent and is basically an export version not subject to France's domestic stamp tax.[4][5] The jack of clubs has a different shield, face cards are unnamed, and blue is usually replaced with green in the portraits. In Genoa, there are no corner indices. Piedmontese cards are similar to the Genoese packs but their face cards have a horizontal instead of diagonal dividing line and decorated aces.[6] When the Ottoman Empire relaxed the ban against playing cards, Belgian-Genoese cards flooded their territory and is now found throughout the Balkans, North Africa, and the Middle East. They are also frequently found in France's former colonies. This is the second most common pattern in the world after the English pattern.

Bavarian derivatives

Andreas Benedict Göbl of Munich produced a Parisian variant around 1770 where the king of diamonds wore a turban. This originates from the German-suited Old Bavarian pattern. Belgian card-makers subsequently exported turban king patterns to the rest of Europe. The king of spades, who used to represent David, no longer holds a harp.

Russian pattern
Russian pattern king of hearts

This pattern created during the early 19th-century is based on a North-West German version of a Bavarian derivative.[7][8][9] It usually contains 52 or 36 cards, the latter lacking ranks 2 to 5. The stripped deck is used to play Durak.[10]

Adler Cego

This is the last remaining animal tarot and is used in Germany's Black Forest to play Cego. The courts are based off a Frankfurt version of a Bavarian derivative.[11] It is sold with 54 cards; the 5 to 10 of the red suits and the 1 to 6 of the black suits are removed. Real and fictional animals are displayed on the trump suit but despite its name, eagles do not appear. Trumps have a pink panel in each end with an Arabic numeral to show its rank.

Industrie und Glück

The Industrie und Glück (Industry and Luck) tarock deck of Central Europe uses Roman numerals for the trumps. It is organized in the same manner as the Adler Cego decks. Its trumps abandoned the traditional allegorical motifs found in Italian tarocchi decks in favor of new, more whimsical scenes like depictions of rural life.[12] The turban wearing king is now in the suit of spades.

Hamburg derivatives

Hamburg was once a major card producing hub. The patterns in this family have the king of spades maintaining David's harp.

North German pattern
North-German pattern (Doppelkopf deck)

French suited cards are popular in Central Europe and compete very well against local German playing cards. This led to local manufacturers making their own patterns. Card-makers in Hamburg began revising the Parisian pattern which was continued by producers in Stralsund. This led to the creation of the North-German or erroneously named Berlin pattern. The crownless queens' hairstyles reflect the Biedermeier fashions of the day.[13] They are usually in decks of 32 cards with the 2s to 6s missing since Skat, Germany's most popular card game, doesn't require a full deck.[14] 52 card decks usually include 3 jokers but Zwicker decks have 6 jokers.

French-Swiss pattern

The French-Swiss pattern shares the same descent from the North-German pattern's Hamburg parent but their most distinguishing characteristic is that instead of having corner indices, white Arabic numerals are found within the pips closest to the corner.[15][16][17] French-Swiss cards comes only in decks of 36 with no ranks from 2 to 5.

Modern Portuguese pattern

This is a Parisian derivative from Germany.[18] The composition consists of 52 and until recently 40 cards. The latter has an unusual ranking (ace, king, jack, queen, 8, 6-2). The jack ranking higher than the queen comes from the older Portuguese games where a female knave was outranked by the Knight.[19]

Dutch pattern

The Dutch pattern originates from Germany and shares the same parent as the Modern Portuguese pattern but with different queens. It was not produced in the Netherlands until the 1970s. Their most distinguishing feature are scenic aces.[20][21]

Trente et Quarante pattern

The Trente et Quarante game comes with its own pattern.[22][23][24] Unlike other patterns, it is usually only found in casinos. Although of German origin, this pattern is now produced only in Italy. They consist of 52 cards and no indices.

Dondorf Rhineland pattern

Dondorf Rhineland pattern kings

Around 1870, Dondorf of Frankfurt produced the Rhineland pattern. They have fallen out of popularity in Germany but are very common in Poland and Denmark. They come in decks of 24, 32, or 52 cards.[25][26]

Tarot Nouveau

The Tarot Nouveau was designed by C.L. Wüst of Frankfurt in the mid-19th century. It is popular in Francophone Europe and Quebec and is also used in Denmark to play tarot games that require the full 78-card deck. Like the Industrie und Glück, the trumps depict genre scenes but modern editions use Arabic numerals instead of Roman ones.[27]

Modern Swedish pattern

Swedes used to use Bavarian derived patterns. In the early 20th-century, the firm Öberg & Son invented a new pattern unrelated to the old ones.[28][29][30][31] This pattern has spread to neighboring Finland. They are in the standard 52-card format.

English pattern

Evolution of the King of Hearts from the Rouennais to English pattern

Card makers from Rouen began exporting to England around 1480.[32] Since Latin-suited cards were already circulating in England, the English renamed French suits to the Latin ones they were familiar with. Hence the clovers were called clubs and pikes were named after the swords (spade). The English didn't start producing their own cards until a century later. In 1628, the importation of foreign playing cards was banned to protect local manufacturers. English cardmakers produced lower quality cards than their continental counterparts leading to the loss of detail from the Rouennais pattern. Today's pattern is the result of Charles Goodall and Son's reworking of the old Rouen pattern during the 19th century.[33] The majority of decks sold in this pattern is the 52 card deck. One deck invented in the US but more commonly found in Australia and New Zealand contains 11s, 12s, and red 13s to play the six-handed version of the Euchre variant 500. Decks marketed for Canasta often have card point values printed on the cards.

Viennese pattern

King of Hearts in the Viennese (large crown) pattern

Lyon was a card major card exporter to German speaking countries from the late 16th through the 18th centuries.[34][35] While the Lyonnais pattern died out in most places, it survived in Austria and the Czech Republic and its modern incarnations are the Viennese patterns.[36]The "large crown" version lacks corner indices while the "small crown" version includes them.[37][38] They come in decks of 24, 32, or 52 cards.

Lombard pattern

Lombard pattern

The Lombard or Milanese pattern come in 40 card decks that is missing the 8s, 9s, and 10s and lack corner indices. The Lombard decks exported to Swiss Italian regions contain corner indices and also labels the ranks of the face cards.[39] It has unclear influence from the Lyonnais pattern as well as the extinct Provence pattern.[40][41]

Florentine pattern

The Florentine pattern, dating from the mid-19th century, is the only French suited deck that is not reversible in the present.[42][43] They are also very large. Cards marketed as "Tuscan" are smaller versions of the Florentine pattern. There was another pattern called "Tuscan" but it has ceased printing since the 1980s.[44] It has the came composition as the Lombard pattern.

Baronesse pattern

Baronesse pattern kings

Dondorf of Frankfurt produced this pattern around 1900 and now it is used in Patience decks by many companies worldwide. The court cards are dressed in rococo period costumes.[45][46]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Dummett, Michael (1980). The Game of Tarot. London: Duckworth. pp. 10–30.
  2. ↑ Belgian-Genoese pattern at the International Playing-Card Society. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  3. ↑ Pollett, Andrea. French national pattern at Andy's Playing Cards. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  4. ↑ Belgian-Genoese pattern at the International Playing-Card Society. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  5. ↑ Pollett, Andrea. Belgian and Genoese cards at Andy's Playing Cards. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  6. ↑ The Piemont Pattern at Alta Carta. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  7. ↑ Mann, Sylvia. (1990) All Cards on the Table. Leinfelden: Deutsches Spielkarten-Museum. pp. 277-278.
  8. ↑ Wintle, Adam.Russian Standard Playing Cards at World of Playing Cards. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  9. ↑ Russian Pattern at Alta Carta. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  10. ↑ McLeod, John. Card Games in Russia at pagat.com. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  11. ↑ Mann, Sylvia (1990). All Cards on the Table. Leinfelden: Deutsches Spielkarten-Museum. pp. 83, 315.
  12. ↑ Austrian Tarock Type C at the International Playing-Card Society. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  13. ↑ Wintle, Simon. North German pattern. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  14. ↑ Berlin pattern at Alta Carta. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  15. ↑ French-Swiss pattern at the International Playing-Card Society. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  16. ↑ Pollett, Andrea. Switzerland: French-suited patterns at Andy's Playing Cards (archived). Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  17. ↑ Französischschweizer Spielkarten (German) at kartenhaus. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  18. ↑ XP2 at the International Playing-Card Society. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  19. ↑ McLeod, John. Card games in Portugal at pagat.com. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  20. ↑ Dutch pattern at the International Playing-Card Society. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  21. ↑ The Netherlands Pattern at Alta Carta. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  22. ↑ Trente et Quarante pattern at the International Playing-Card Society. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  23. ↑ Casino pattern at Alta Carta. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  24. ↑ Pollett, Andrea. Trente et Quarante cards at Andy's Playing Cards. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  25. ↑ Dondorf Rhineland pattern at the International Playing-Card Society. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  26. ↑ Wintle, Simon. Rhineland pattern at the World of Playing Cards. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  27. ↑ Bourgeois Tarot at the International Playing-Card Society. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  28. ↑ Mann, Sylvia. (1990). All Cards on the Table. Leinfelden: Deutsches Spielkarten-Museum. p. 153.
  29. ↑ Wintle, Simon. Standard Swedish Pattern at World of Playing Cards. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  30. ↑ The Swedish Pattern at Alta Carta. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  31. ↑ Pollett, Andrea. Sweden at Andy's Playing Cards (archived).
  32. ↑ English pattern at the International Playing-Card Society. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  33. ↑ Wintle, Simon. Charles Goodall and Son at the World of Playing Cards. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  34. ↑ portrait d'Allemagne at the International Playing-Card Society. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  35. ↑ Lyon pattern at Alta Carta. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  36. ↑ Wintle, Simon. Wiener pattern at the World of Playing Cards. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  37. ↑ Pollett, Adnrea. Patterns in Austria at Andy's Playing Cards. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  38. ↑ Large crown Viennese pattern at Alta Carta. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  39. ↑ Lombard pattern at Alta Carta. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  40. ↑ Wintle, Simon. Lombardy Type at World of Playing Cards. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  41. ↑ Mann, Sylvia. (1990) All Cards on the Table. Leinfelden: Deutsches Spielkarten-Museum. pp.43-44.
  42. ↑ Wintle, Adam. Florentine type at the World of Playing Cards. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  43. ↑ Tuscan pattern at Alta Carta. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  44. ↑ Mann, Sylvia (1990). All Cards on the Table. Leinfelden: Deutsches Spielkarten-Museum. pp. 44–45, 301–303.
  45. ↑ Mann, Sylvia. (1990). All Cards on the Table. Leinfelden: Deutsches Spielkarten-Museum. p.77, 300.
  46. ↑ Wintle, Simon. Baronesse Whist No.160 at the World of Playing Cards. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
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