my playing card collection
Jeu de L'An 2
Maker:
Country:
Artist:
Year:
Type:
Suit:
My Ref:
Grimaud
France
La Veuve H. Mouton
Originally 1795
52 +2J +1 info cards
French
#93
This pack of cards by Grimaud was originally published by the widow Mouton, master card maker, during the second year of the republic, with the permission of the revolutionary committee of Lille. Year II in the French republican calendar began on 22 September 1793.
The authorisation was withdrawn eight days later. Consequently there could only be a modest print run and the original cards are therefore rare.
J. M. Simon, master card maker, re-created the Jeu de L'An 2 for Grimaud, using the original 12 face cards which are held at the Musée Carnavalet, in Paris. He designed the two jokers, the pip cards and the backs using documentation from the time.
The red caps worn by the Kings and the Joker are a Phrygian-style cap worn as a symbol of revolutionary France and first documented in May 1790. By wearing the bonnet rouge and sans-culottes (without silk breeches), the Parisian working class made their revolutionary ardor and plebeian solidarity immediately recognizable.
The court cards relate to the historical aspirations of the French revolution and reflect the political and social events of that time. The Kings are represented by the geniuses of agriculture, of trade, of war and the sea. The Queens are the freedoms of the arts, trade, the press, and the freedom to worship. The Jacks represent equality.
