83/1998
Collection
Toys & Games
Brief description
Set of fifty-two playing cards with plain backs, complete with four suits with the Jack, Queen and King printed in red, black, blue, yellow and pink, printed by Hart in England, 1789-1801.
Object name
playing cards
Object number
83/1998
Location
On Display
Production organisation
Hart (printer)
Hart (publisher)
Hart (publisher)
Production date
1789-1801 (printed)
Production place
England (printed)
Period
Georgian (1714-1837)
Material
card
Technique
printed
Physical description
Set of 52 English playing cards with four complete suits, excluding jokers. Each card has a plain back. The court cards (Jack, Queen and King) are of standard form. The ace of spades is more elaborate and is printed with the order of the Garter, a maker's name and tax details, with the following inscription 'SIX PENCE/ADD.L DUTY/GIII REX./SIXPENCE/ADDL. DVTY/No 53/HONI.SOIT.QVL.MAL.Y.PENSE./DIEU ET MON DROIT/HART', printed in black.
Dimensions
Length: 9.5cm
Width: 6.3cm
Width: 6.3cm
Website keywords
games
Label
Label text for the exhibition At Home with the World, Geffrye Museum (20 March 2012- 9 September 2012):
Playing cards
The pastime of playing cards has origins in China, Egypt and India. Europeans adopted these games, and by the 1400s the standard deck with 52 cards in four suits was in use in France. By the late 1700s the English produced their own cards, like these, but French card games like Pharo were very popular.
This object was featured in the World at Home project and display at the Geffrye Museum from 17 May to 24 July 2011. The project was a result of a collaboration between the Geffrye Museum and MA students from the Institute of Archeology, University College London. The students chose eleven objects from the museum’s period rooms to highlight the narrative of England’s ever-changing relationship with the rest of the world. Through the expansion of the British Empire and development of international trade, the English middle classes brought into their homes goods as varied as pottery from Germany, tea from China and modern furniture from Scandinavia. Other outputs of the project included design marketing materials, on-line activities, events, design activities for children and visitor and audience research.
The students researched these objects and prepared text panels for the display. The text is recorded below:
Trade and Travel
Although the true origins of playing cards are shrouded in mystery, it is likely they were invented in China and introduced to Europe from the Islamic world. Travellers and traders created and shared games and cards, spreading gaming and gambling culture across countries and continents. The earliest written report of playing cards in England is found in a 1463 Act of Parliament, protecting domestic card makers against the import of foreign cards.
English Cards
Despite this long-term ban on the import of foreign cards into England, elements of the basic card design and many different game concepts had already been adopted from other countries. This pack is the same 52-card pack used today. The four suits came from France circa 1480.
‘A House of Cards’
Gaming and gambling took up a large portion of the middling sort’s leisure time in the 1790s. At home, card games were held in the parlour or drawing room and friends would be invited to play. Popular games played in English homes at the time were ‘Ruff and Honours, ’Whist,’, ‘Faro,’ ‘Piquet,’ ‘Ombre,’ ‘Cribbage’ and ‘Quadrille’. Cardplaying was a social opportunity, and gossip, secrets and schemes were shared over the card table.
There is a pack of playing cards in the British Museum collection which were collected by Sir Edward Belcher (1799–1877), a captain in the Royal Navy. He was a pirate-catcher around Indonesia and the Philippines, and these cards are thought to date from circa 1840–50, and to have been confiscated from pirates. These cards illustrate that playing cards were taken on travels, and represent an era of trade and the measures taken to protect it.
Criticised by moralists, who witnessed fortunes lost and legacies tumble, cards moved from being seen as simply a diversion to also a potentially dangerous pastime in the eighteenth century. This is illustrated in a 1798 hand-coloured engraving by Thomas Rowlandson entitled 'Company at Play' from the 'Comforts of Bath' series.
Playing cards
The pastime of playing cards has origins in China, Egypt and India. Europeans adopted these games, and by the 1400s the standard deck with 52 cards in four suits was in use in France. By the late 1700s the English produced their own cards, like these, but French card games like Pharo were very popular.
This object was featured in the World at Home project and display at the Geffrye Museum from 17 May to 24 July 2011. The project was a result of a collaboration between the Geffrye Museum and MA students from the Institute of Archeology, University College London. The students chose eleven objects from the museum’s period rooms to highlight the narrative of England’s ever-changing relationship with the rest of the world. Through the expansion of the British Empire and development of international trade, the English middle classes brought into their homes goods as varied as pottery from Germany, tea from China and modern furniture from Scandinavia. Other outputs of the project included design marketing materials, on-line activities, events, design activities for children and visitor and audience research.
The students researched these objects and prepared text panels for the display. The text is recorded below:
Trade and Travel
Although the true origins of playing cards are shrouded in mystery, it is likely they were invented in China and introduced to Europe from the Islamic world. Travellers and traders created and shared games and cards, spreading gaming and gambling culture across countries and continents. The earliest written report of playing cards in England is found in a 1463 Act of Parliament, protecting domestic card makers against the import of foreign cards.
English Cards
Despite this long-term ban on the import of foreign cards into England, elements of the basic card design and many different game concepts had already been adopted from other countries. This pack is the same 52-card pack used today. The four suits came from France circa 1480.
‘A House of Cards’
Gaming and gambling took up a large portion of the middling sort’s leisure time in the 1790s. At home, card games were held in the parlour or drawing room and friends would be invited to play. Popular games played in English homes at the time were ‘Ruff and Honours, ’Whist,’, ‘Faro,’ ‘Piquet,’ ‘Ombre,’ ‘Cribbage’ and ‘Quadrille’. Cardplaying was a social opportunity, and gossip, secrets and schemes were shared over the card table.
There is a pack of playing cards in the British Museum collection which were collected by Sir Edward Belcher (1799–1877), a captain in the Royal Navy. He was a pirate-catcher around Indonesia and the Philippines, and these cards are thought to date from circa 1840–50, and to have been confiscated from pirates. These cards illustrate that playing cards were taken on travels, and represent an era of trade and the measures taken to protect it.
Criticised by moralists, who witnessed fortunes lost and legacies tumble, cards moved from being seen as simply a diversion to also a potentially dangerous pastime in the eighteenth century. This is illustrated in a 1798 hand-coloured engraving by Thomas Rowlandson entitled 'Company at Play' from the 'Comforts of Bath' series.
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© Museum of the Home, London
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