Les Amoureux de Peynet

Adorable lovers – the eternally young couple is a staple of French cartoonist Raymond Peynet, who’s drawn thousands of pictures of the charming pair, including for these cards by Grimaud. This deck’s got character. The single-figure jacks and most of the kings are whimsically chaste, with the male lover gathering what looks like berries and flowers and acting out scenes from Pygmalion and Romeo and Juliet. And then you get to the queens (and the King of Spades), where puppy love vanishes, replaced by unambiguously erotic imagery.

Peynet’s lovers are an entire brand, appearing on stamps, porcelain, jewelry, and more, but I haven’t been able to find an outright erotic scene anywhere outside of this deck. Another endearing – and easily overlooked – feature is the semi-transformation flavor of Peynet’s courts. Clubs serve as flowers, a pair of diamonds forms a bra, and a strategically placed spade prevents the Queen of Spades from venturing further into the pornographic.

Les Amoureux de Peynet playing cards with illustrations by French cartoonist Raymond Peynet, first printed by Grimaud in 1964 but with subsequent reprints.

An extra card with the logo of Belgian steel company Bekaert is included. The connection between Bekaert and the deck is unclear. According to the World Web Playing Card Museum, there’s another extra card with a cartoon drawing of Peynet, possibly a self-portrait. WWPCM also says Grimaud printed a 2010 version of this deck for the German company F.W. Heye Verlag.

Further References

WWPCM : Les Amoureux de Peynet ►

Wikipedia: Raymond Peynet Rosenthal Plate ►