Jass Allemand

Egbert Moehsnang: ‘Jass Allemand’

In 1978 the Swiss manufacturer AG Müller decided to redesign the Swiss pattern, in the hope that the traditional designs could be updated and reinstated as a strategy to overcome the foreign playing cards flooding into the market. They commissioned Egbert Moehsnang, who in consultation with a leading art historian took almost two years researching and designing the cards. Moehsnang produced this contemporary Swiss-suited, double-ended pack, based on original XV century sources, with highly legible indices and colour scheme, but they were simply shunned by card players and the idea wasn't successful.

See also:  Abstract Bridge.

Above: cards from Egbert Moehsnang's ‘Jass Allemand’ Swiss-suited playing cards published by AG Müller, 1982. The original cards were produced from copper plate engravings, hand coloured with brush and stencils. The designs are flat, 2-dimensional figures rather that 3-dimensional as in older cards.