Branle playing cards

The name of this Kickstarter pack was inspired by Branle, a 12th-century French chain dance adopted (c. 1450 - c. 1650) by European aristocrats, especially in France and in England, where the word “branle” became anglicized as “brawl.”

The pack was produced in a limited edition of 700 copies by Noir Arts (Roman Kotiv) in 2015, with the artwork created by “Chesley Trem”. This same artwork is almost identical to that used in an earlier Russian souvenir deck called “Sagulatus”. The artwork in this Russian pack is attributed to Vyacheslav Yastremsky (Вячеслав Ястремский), and it emerges that Chesley Trem is actually a pseudonym drawn from part of the artist’s name: vyaCHESLAV yasTREMsky.

Each Branle pack has a numbered custom seal (the pack shown here is no. 193/700). According to the publisher, the court cards portray history and culture of the 16-17th centuries, with each of the suits associated with a particular European country: the spades – Britain; hearts – France; clubs – Spain; and diamonds - Eastern Europe (Rzeczpospolita [Poland], Transylvania, Hungary). However, the associations are not linked to these countries directly, and are not obvious or easy to identify. The cards have large 4-corner indices, the pip cards are rather ornate, and the aces take the form of decorative swords. See the box►

Above: Branle playing cards produced by Noir Arts, USA, 2015.

NOTE

The artwork in the ‘Branle’ deck was created by “Chesley Trem”. This same artwork is almost identical to that used in an earlier Russian souvenir deck called “Sagulatus”. They are identical to the Branle cards except for the wording around the waist belt / band which reads "Sagulatus" rather than "Branle". The artwork in this Russian pack is attributed to Vyacheslav Yastremsky (Вячеслав Ястремский), and it emerges that Chesley Trem is actually a pseudonym drawn from part of the artist’s name: vyaCHESLAV yasTREMsky.