Current Location: In storage
Titles
Queen of Diamonds (Mary Stuart)
Baker and Co's Eclectic Cards
Maker(s)
Printmaker:
Unknown
Publisher:
Baker & Co
Entities
Categories
Description
A hand-coloured etching and engraving on pasteboard of a Queen dressed in high-waisted pink tunic decorated with fleur-de-lis and with long white gown underneath. A tartan shawl of green and red is around her shoulders and across her left arm. She wears a crown on her head and holds a sceptre in her right hand and cross in her left. She stands within a Romanesque church interior. The figure represents Mary Stuart, 'the unfortunate dowager-queen of France, and queen of scots', as described in the Baker & Co. pamphlet that was published with the cards, see below. A large yellow diamond, sub-divided into four, at upper right. The diamond suit is here styled as a lozenge which references the Argyle pattern derived from Scottish Clan Campbell of Argyll. The card is untitled. From a pack of 52 playing cards which employs fanciful suits based on French and German models themed according to the countries of the United Kingdom: England (Acorns), Scotland (Diamonds), Wales (Spades) and Ireland (Hearts). The British Museum has a set of these cards (1848,1209.296-349) which includes an uncoloured title-card printed with the publisher's details as follows: 'Baker & Co's Eclectic Cards. For England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales. Sold Wholesale and Retail at their Manufactory, No. 2 King Arthur or New Card Court, York Street, Black Friar's Road, London. N.B. To be had of all Respectable Stationers in the United Kingdom'. This pack is also accompanied by a twelve-page printed pamphlet which gives, 'A short account of Baker and Co.'s Complete, Grand, Historical, Eclectic Cards, for England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, being a selection or an Eclectic Company of Twelve of the most eminent personages that ever distinguished themselves in those respective countries for Heroic Deeds, Wisdom, &c.', and which was printed by Theodore Page, Black Friar's Road in 1813.
Legal notes
Given by E. Evelyn Barron, 1940-02-06
