Cartes Marbrées

This early deck by Daveluy, of homely design, is a local variant of the French ‘Paris’ pattern, produced in Bruges, c.1850-1895. The queen of diamonds has the maker’s name. The court cards aren’t named after historical personalities. All the jacks hold axes in the left hand; the queens wear crowns and hold flowers. The king of hearts holds an orb and a sword; the other kings just hold ceremonial sceptres. The king of spades’ hands emerge at an unusual angle from his cloak.

Some versions have coloured faces. It was known as “Cartes Marbrées” because of a marble-like back pattern sometimes found, although this example has dots.

Above: a provincial variant of the French ‘Paris’ pattern produced by Daveluy c.1850-1895. 36 or 52 cards, chromolithography in golden yellow, blue, terracotta and green, square corners, 8,8 x 6 cm. Source Bibliothèque nationale de France

FURTHER REFERENCES

Bibliothèque nationale de France: Jeu de cartes belge au portrait à deux têtes►

Biebouw, Luc; Clays, Alex; Cremers, Filip; D'Hondt, Jan & Smet, Yvette: Daveluy, Brugge's Trots en Koninklijke Troef, Brussels Euro Joker Club, 2004.