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.^[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.

Starting from 1745, cards became reversible, relieving players from having to flip face cards right side up. In the 19th century, corner indices and rounded corners were added. 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. Finnish cards use 11, 12, and 13 on the indices of their face cards.^[2]

Standard Patterns

The French suited deck has spawned many regional variations known as standard patterns based on their artwork and deck size. The French national pattern (portrait officiel or Parisian pattern) is closely followed by Belgian, Genovese, and Piedmontese patterns. Though Genoa and Piedmont are very similar to the French, the Italians also have the distinct Tuscan and Lombard patterns. 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 Rouennais pattern, is the most well known pattern in the world.

Note that patterns don't include 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.^[3] The most common deck sold in France is the 32 card deck with the 2 to 6 removed and 1s instead of Aces. The face cards are associated with historic personages.^[4]

The Belgian and Genovese patterns are very similar.^[5][6] They drop the names and usually replace blue with green in the portraits. Genovese decks also lack corner indices. Piedmontese cards are similar to the Genovese packs but their face cards have a horizontal instead of diagonal dividing line and decorated aces.

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.^[7] 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.^[8] 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.^[9][10][11] French-Swiss cards comes only in decks of 36 with no ranks from 2 to 5.

Maia pattern

Portuguese firm Litografia Maia created a new pattern in the 1920s that replaced pre-existing French and Latin-suited patterns. They did this through altering a Parisian derivative from Germany.^[12] The composition consists of 52 or 40 cards. The latter has an unusual ranking (ace, king, jack, queen, 8, 6-2).^[13][14] The jack ranking higher than the queen comes from the older Portuguese games where a female knave was outranked by the Knight.

Dutch pattern

The Dutch pattern originates from Germany and shares the same parent as the Maia pattern but with different queens. It was not produced in the Netherlands until the 1970s. Their most distinguishing feature are scenic aces.^[15][16]

Russian pattern

Russian pattern king of hearts

This pattern created during the early 19th-century is based on a North-West German version of the Parisian pattern.^[17][18][19] It usually contains 52 or 36 cards, the latter lacking ranks 2 to 5. The stripped deck is used to play Durak.^[20]

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.^[21][22]

Trente et Quarante pattern

The Trente et Quarante game comes with its own pattern.^[23][24][25] 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.

English pattern

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

Card makers from Rouen began exporting to England around 1480.^[26] 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.^[27] 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.^[28][29] 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.^[30]The "large crown" version lacks corner indices while the "small crown" version includes them.^[31][32] 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.^[33] It has unclear influence from the Lyons pattern as well as the extinct Provence pattern.^[34][35]

Tuscan pattern

The Tuscan pattern is the only French suited deck that is not reversible in the present.^[36] Cards marketed as "Florentine" are larger versions of the Tuscan pattern. It has the came composition as the Lombard pattern.

Modern Swedish pattern

Swedes used to use Parisian derived patterns. In the early 20th-century, the firm Öberg & Son invented a new pattern unrelated to the Parisian ones.^{[37][38][39][40]} They are in the standard 52-card format.

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.^[41]

Tarot

The face cards of these Tarot decks are unique from local patterns and so they constitute separate patterns of their own. Their trumps also abandoned the traditional allegorical motifs found in Italian tarocchi decks in favor of new, more whimsical scenes like depictions of rural life.

The Industrie und Glück (Industry and Luck) tarock deck of Central Europe uses Roman numerals for the trumps. 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. The Cego deck is used in Germany's Black Forest and has 54 cards organized in the same fashion as the Industrie und Glück but the trumps use Arabic numerals in top centered indices. The Tarot Nouveau has 78 cards and is commonly played in France. Its trumps use Arabic numerals but in corner indices.

• 

  Industrie und Glück trumps

• 

  Cego trumps

• 

  Tarot Nouveau trumps

See also

• Standard 52-card deck

References