Gallia Belgica playing cards

Gallia Belgica is the ancient name of the Roman province which covered current Belgian territory (and part of the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany and France). Each card in this Gallia Belgica pack was engraved in linoleum by the Belgian artist Cédric Volon (also known as “le Fils de Luc”). In 2014 Volon, a trained graphic designer, opened the graphics gallery “La Sonrisa de la Muerte” in Mexico; in 2015 he returned to Brussels, Belgium where, a year later, he opened a sister gallery called ¨Calaveras¨

Published by Calaveras, the suits and the court figures in this non-standard pack represent a piece of Belgian culture or folklore. Conventional suits have been replaced by beer (spades), mussels (hearts), chips/Belgian-fries (diamonds) and the Brussels Atomium (clubs).

The box continues the Belgian theme: the front shows the Manneken Pis, with the cockerel (emblem of the South) and the lion (symbol of the North) on either side. On the top/bottom edges is the Ardennes wild boar wearing Magritte's hat, and on the reverse, the “rotten weather of Belgium with the sun which is never far away”. Also depicted is the gouge and the engraver's hand.

Above: Gallia Belgica playing cards produced by Cédric Volon, 2016.

The court cards are as follows (mussels, beer, fries, Atomium):

• Kings: The shrimp fisherman, the trappiest monk, the Flemish primitive, the Miner
• Queens: The lacemaker, the Virgin Mary, Madame Goliath, the Musician
• Valets: The Cartoonist, St. George and the dragon, the Gille, St. Michael and the devil
• The jokers are the Manneken Pis.

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