Lancelot: P.14628-R(3)

Titles

Lancelot
Jack of Clubs

Maker(s)

Printmaker: Gatteaux, Nicolas Marie

Entities

• Playing card

Categories

• Print

Description

From a complete pack of 52 playing-cards; hand-coloured woodcut on white laid paper with watermarked fleur-de-lis. A single image, hand-coloured in black, red, yellow, dark blue and lighter blue inks. The Jack of Clubs, a full-length figure, wears an armoured breastplate bearing the fleur-de-lys insigia and holds a halberd in his left hand. He holds a large medallion in his right hand which is printed with the name for French excise administration and a date: 'administ. [ration] des contrib. [utions] indir. [ectes] 1816'. The engraver's name, 'GATTEAUX' is printed at the centre of the medallion. A printed title or name at lower right: 'LANCELOT'. This name for the Jack of Clubs (a reference to the knight of King Arthur's Round Table) is unique to French playing cards where the court cards are associated with historical or mythical characters. The single image pattern of the court cards was designed by engraver and sculptor, Nicolas-Marie Gatteaux (1751-1832) in 1813. His designs were based on earlier versions of the so-called Paris pattern, which became the official French pattern in 1813. The name of 'Lancelot' was given to the Jack of Clubs in 1813. Before 1813, the card carried the manufacturer's name. The verso is blank. From the 19th century until 1945, the appearance of playing cards for domestic consumption was regulated by the French government and all cards were produced on watermarked paper made by the state to show payment of the stamp tax.

Legal notes

Bequeathed by Spencer George Perceval, 1923