In a deck ofplaying cards, the termface card (US) orcourt card (British and US),[1] and sometimesroyalty, is generally used to describe a card that depicts a person as opposed to thepip cards. In astandard 52-card pack of theEnglish pattern, these cards are theKing,Queen andJack. The termpicture card is also common, but that term sometimes includes theAces. After the American innovation of corner-indices, the idea of "pictured" cards from tarot trumps was used to replace all 52 cards from the standard deck with pictures, art, or photography in some souvenir packs featuring a wide variety of subjects (animals, scenery, cartoons, pin-ups, vehicles, etc.) that may garner interest with collectors.[2]
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In the standard packs of non-English speaking regions, the face or court cards may be different. For example, inItalian- andSpanish-suited packs there is aKnight orCavalier instead of a Queen. InFrench-suitedTarot card packs, the Cavalier is a fourth court card. By contrast,German-suited packs typically depict an officer or overlord, known as theOber, and a sergeant or peasant known as theUnter.
Until the early 20th century, the termcoat card was also common.
While playing cards were invented in China,Chinese playing cards do not have a concept of court cards, though two entire suits featured faces for a period of time whenWater Margin cards [zh] were popular. When playing cards arrived in Iran, the Persians created the first face cards. The best preserved deck is located in theTopkapı Palace. To avoididolatry,[3] the cards did not depict human faces and instead featured abstract designs or calligraphy for themalik (king),nā'ib malik (viceroy or deputy king) andthānī nā'ib (second or under-deputy).[4] It is possible that the Topkapı deck, a custom made luxury item used for display, does not represent the cards played by commoners. There are fragments of what may be Mamluk court cards from cheaper decks showing human figures which may explain why seated kings and mounted men appear in both Indo-Persian and European cards. Both Mamluk and modern European decks include three face cards per suit, or twelve face cards in a deck of four suits.[5][6]
The third court card may have had a special role to play since the Spanish, French, and Italians called the newly introduced cardsnaipe,nahipi, andnaibi respectively as opposed to their Arabic name of Kanjifah. In a 1377 description of cards byJohn of Rheinfelden, the most common decks were structurally the same as the modern52-card deck.[7] Each suit contained a seated king and twomarshals, one holding the suit symbol upwards while the other downwards. The marshals correspond to theOber andUnter ranks in modern-dayGerman andSwiss playing cards. As marshals were cavalry commanders, both ranks may have been mounted unlike their modern counterparts. Less popular decks included ones in which two kings were replaced withqueens, all the kings replaced by queens, queens and maids added so as to make 15 cards per suit, and 5 or 6 suited decks with only the kings and two marshal ranks.[6]
In Italy and Spain, theUnter andOber were replaced by the standingKnave and the mountedKnight before 1390, perhaps to make them more visually distinguishable. The Spanish rank ofSota means "under". In 15th-century France, the knight was dropped in favour of the queen. The 15th-century Italian game oftrionfi, which later became known astarot, also added queens and various subjects that would triumph over the other cards for the trick-taking games they were used for. These subjects would later become their own dedicatedtrump suit, and not considered as court cards though some of them do depict faces. TheCary-Yale deck had the most court cards with six ranks: king, queen, knight, mounted lady, knave, and damsel or maid for a total of 24. It is unlikely that the Cary-Yale deck was designed for a game in mind as it was an expensive wedding gift and was probably never played. Standing kings are a Spanish innovation which was copied by the French.
In the 1540s, Portuguese traders brought their Spanish-influenced playing cards to Japan. In 1633, however, theTokugawa shogunate banned these cards as part of theirSakoku policy. To get around the ban, Japanese manufacturers radically redesigned their "karuta" (cards) and renamed them to "fuda." The face cards became increasingly abstract and near indistinguishable since face cards have no value ingames in the "kabu" family. Eventually, two face card ranks were dropped and only the Jacks were kept for the resultingkabufuda deck. Modern kabufuda is able to utilize a double-headed design influenced by western cards since the ban is no longer in effect.
There are two Japanese playing card decks that did not face the same restrictions as kabufuda:Uta-garuta andUnsun karuta. Uta-garuta was found to be of literary merit as the cards all featurewaka poems. Half the deck is called yomifuda ("reading cards") and often feature a portrait of thepoet who wrote it. With 100 poems, this results in 100 face cards. Unsun karuta feature the face cards derived fromPortuguese-suited playing cards: female knaves, knights, and kings. Portuguese cards featured dragons on theiraces, which were separated into their own rank. Additionally, two more face cards were added: Un and Sun. This results in six face cards per suit.
The 'Rubaiyat-e-Ganjifa' poem (circa 1535) byAhli Shirazi is the earliest Persian reference toGanjifa playing cards which describes a 96-card, 8-suited pack, and features two court cards per suit: the king and thevizier. The cards became popular throughout India where most variants follow the two court cards system, with few exceptions like the obscureMysore Chad Ganjifa having six court cards: Raja (king) on elephant or throne, Rajni (queen) in apalanquin, Amatya or Mantri (vizier) in aratha, Senani (general) on horseback, Padathi or Sevaka (foot-soldier or servant) and Dhwaja (flag or banner).
In 17th century Persia, there were accounts of 25-cardAs-Nas packs in use, with five colored suits, each suit having one court card and four numeral cards.[8] The pack developed into having an ace and four court cards (Shah (شاه, King), Bibi (بیبی, Lady), Serbaz (سرباز, Soldier), and Lakat (لکات, Dancer)) per suit. In 1877,Robert Murdoch Smith wrote that these cards were 'gradually falling into disuse, being replaced by European.'[9]
Throughout most of their history, face cards were not reversible. Players may accidentally reveal that they hold a face card if they flip them right-side up. During the 18th century,Trappola andTarocco Bolognese decks became the first to be reversible. The trend towards double-headed cards continued throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Some patterns resisted the innovation, most notablySpanish-suited decks where full figured courts remain dominant.
Current playing cards are structured as follows:
While modern decks of playing cards may contain one or moreJokers depicting a person, such as ajester orclown, they are not normally considered face cards. The earliest Jokers, known as Best Bowers, did not depict people until the late 1860s.
