La Provence

La Provence is a 1959 Piatnik double pack designed by Anton Stursa. It takes Provence, the historical and current region of southern France, as its subject, drawing on the region's coat of arms, legends, and famous figures.

Above: the Tarasque, the monster represented by the jokers in La Provence.

Tarasque card image from La Provence. The jokers show a chimera with the head of a lion, the paws of a bear, the body of a tortoise, and a tail ending in a venomous stinger. In local legend it terrorized the marshes around Tarascon before being tamed by Saint Martha.

The jokers represent the Tarasque, a chimera with the head of a lion, the paws of a bear, the body of a tortoise, and a tail ending in a venomous stinger. In local mythology, it was an amphibious monster that terrorized the marshes around Tarascon, on the banks of the Rhône, before being tamed by Saint Martha.

The face cards mix several types of historical figures. Among the nobles, we find, for example:

But also as broader cultural figures:

The reverse features the "modern" coat of arms of Provence with a fleur-de-lis, linking it to the Kingdom of France. Motto: "Azure, a fleur-de-lis Or and a label Gules."

It comes in a premium cardboard box and contains 52 cards plus 3 jokers. The cards measure 89 x 58 mm, have gilt corners, use standard pip cards, and carry the Piatnik reference 5228.