The Art & Design of Playing Cards
The playing card calls for artistic treatment and although the constrained size imposes some limitations there is an almost bewildering wealth and variety of designs in playing cards and their tuck boxes. The serious player requires design to be unobtrusive so that aesthetic considerations remain in the background. However, with modern manufacturing technology more eye-catching designs are becoming popular as gifts, collectibles and for their attractive appearance.
Carl Arnold Transformation
Transformation playing cards designed by Carl Johann Arnold (1829-1916), the court artist for King Friedrich Wilhem IV of Prussia.
Carnival Playing Cards, 1925
The Carnival Playing Card deck designed by Harry D. Wallace (1892-1977) and first published in 1925.
Cashmere
Bernhard Altmann is from the “The House of Cashmere” and these playing cards honour their best known commodity: the fleece of the graceful horned Cashmere goat.
Casino
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by Simon Wintle
“Casino” pack made by J. Müller & Cie & Cie, Schaffhouse. The pack was probably designed by Josef Maria Melchior Annen (1868-1954) who also designed several other packs for Müller & Cie.
Ceska Graficka Unie AS
Playing Cards printed by Ceska Graficka Unie AS, Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1890-1925.
Cheery Families, c.1893
Cheery Families card game designed by Richard Doyle and printed by De La Rue & Co., Ltd, c.1893
Chinese Jokers
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by Matt Probert
Chinese playing card makers have probably produced the widest variety of jokers of any single part of the world.
Chinese Opera Masks Playing Cards 脸谱
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by Adam Wintle
Three different packs of cards featuring traditional Chinese face painting and Chinese opera masks.
Chinese Roles of Beijing Opera
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by Matt Probert
A very impressive deck of cards featuring 54 different images from “Chinese Roles of Beijing Opera” published by HCG Poker Productions, 2005
Classique
“Classique” by Draeger Frères, Paris, c.1949 with designs reminiscent of early French cards.
Claude Weisbuch
Free reinterpretation of the traditional Paris pattern courts by the artist Claude Weisbuch.
Club Bridge
Modiano’s ‘Club Bridge’ is a new edition of a stylish deck originally published in c.1895.
Cocktail
Aluminium playing cards manufactured by Häusermann United Chemical and Metal Engraving Co., Vienna, c.1925
Corsaires et Flibustiers
“Corsaires et Flibustiers” playing cards created by G. Delluc and published by Éditions Philibert, Paris, 1958.
Cosi Fan Tutte
Cosi Fan Tutte was published in 1994 and is based on Mozart's opera. The pips (heart-shaped locket, magnet, marriage contract and poison bottle) are key objects in the development of the operatic plot.
Cosmopolitan № 2121 playing cards
“Cosmopolitan” № 2121 playing cards designed by Russian artist Valeri Mishin, 1996
