In the original Rouen design, the King of Diamonds is seen from behind. His remaining hand doesn’t seem to be doing anything except waving. He is armed with an axe but lost the hand holding it some time in the 19th century. He is dressed in red sleeves with blue lapels and he wears a gold crown. He is the only “One-eyed King” in the deck. The King of Diamonds is seen in profile facing left. In the Rouen Pattern, the orb was adorned with the Cross of Lorraine, but in the English pattern it became a simple cross, and then some time later, the fleur-de-lis motif, which it has now. The fingers of the King’s right hand disappeared some time over the 18th century. He holds an orb in his right hand and a sword in his left. He wears red vest beneath red robes with blue trims. Originally, his right hand rested on his lapel. The King of Spades looks to the right and holds a sword in his left hand. He is the only court card in the deck that still retains both hands. He wears a gold crown, is attired in a red vest with gold sleeves. The King of Hearts faces slightly left as he did in the old days. In the English standard the King of Diamonds is nicknamed, “The Suicide King”, as the blade he weilds cuts back behind his head. In the English pattern, the image had become so blurred and indefinite that eventually it was taken to be the hilt of a sword. Originally, the Rouen King of Hearts wielded an axe in his left hand. It has left the English Court card a distinct standard in its own right. Inevitably, the lack of skill and traditional craftsmanship meant that errors and distortions slowly crept into the design, with often what are described as “grotesque results”, and thereby mindlessly duplicated over time.īecause of this, by the time cards came pouring out of London factories by the 100’s of thousands in the 1830s, some notable though minor changes had occurred. The fact that very few tangible examples of early English playing cards exist today is most likely because English cards crumbled to dust faster than anyone else’s. They seemed to lack the finesse of their European counterparts. However, the French design never found its finest incarnation at the hands of English ‘card masters’. In England, it seems that the Rouen pattern was duplicated faithfully by English artisans from the early 17th century, and apparently without any alternative. Similarly, a number of regions outside of France took up and manufactured the pattern including Flanders and England. The cards from Rouen were exported to markets right across Europe, to Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Flanders, Denmark as well as England. Nevertheless, the Rouen pattern remained a highly influential design in the card markets of Europe for well on 400 years. In the abundant variety of face designs that came in the centuries that followed, the French eventually abandoned the pattern altogether in the 1780s. The ancestor of the English pattern comes from a 15th century regional pattern of France known as the Rouen design. The assignment of these objects and ornaments has remained relatively unaltered over time. All the courtiers of the Royal Household are endowed with particular objects or ornaments that have served to define them. Both the Kings and Jacks are armed with mediaeval weaponry, like swords, shields and arrows. This was characterstic of the French Rouen pattern from which it was derived. What is unique about the English pattern is that the Jacks are represented as foot-soldiers or landsknechts. The characters of the Royal household are dressed in elaborate English court costumes of the early 16th century. The English pattern comprises twelve court cards.
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