French Revolutionary cards by Pinaut

These few cards hold much historical interest, having been produced in Paris in 1794 at the height of the French Revolution. Prior to this during the Revolution, Paris and provincial pattern packs had been corrected (“corrigés”) by the removal of crowns and other attributes linked to the Ancien Régime. The new “modèle” represented here was authorised in February 1794 but only makers in Paris are known to have produced it. Pinaut, although from Paris, is not one of the Parisian makers listed in the Gazette nationale as being authorised to produce these cards so he presumably copied someone else’s designs.

This new pattern is sometimes called the “portrait de Paris révolutionnaire” or SVB III (from the first letters of the names on the court cards). It is characterised by a series of figures from classical antiquity plus Rousseau. These represent “Sages” (K), “Vertus” (Q) and “Braves” (J). Adding to the interest is the fact that these cards have turned suit-signs in the bottom right-hand corner together with indices using Roman numerals: I = roi; II = dame; III = valet. This is one of the first times – if not, the very first time – that such double-ended indices appear on playing cards.

Above: seven French Revolutionary playing cards made by Pinaut, Paris, France, 1794. 7/32 cards. Size: 55 x 83 mm.

The colours, too, are remarkable. At least five colours are present on these cards: black, red, blue, green and yellow.

As is often found on cards of this period, the plain backs have been used for a secondary purpose, in this case to record the titles and dates of a collection of books.

For comparison, please see french-playing-cards►. The subjects there are the same but they have been treated differently: no green colour used and an entirely different form of indexing.

Reference

Depaulis, Thierry. Les Cartes de la Révolution. Issy-les-Moulineaux, France: Musée français de la Carte à jouer; 1989. p. 34, cat. no. 43.