Face card

Three court cards (face cards) from an English pattern pack

"Court card" redirects here. For the postcard, seeCourt card (postcard).

In a deck ofplaying cards,the termface card(US) orcourt card(British and US),and sometimesroyalty,is generally used to describe a card that depicts a person as opposed to thepip cards.In astandard 52-card packof theEnglish pattern,these cards are theKing,Queenand Jack.The termpicture cardis also common, but that term sometimes includes theAces.

In the standard packs of non-English speaking regions, the face or court cards may be different. For example, inItalian-andSpanish-suited packsthere is aKnightorCavalierinstead of a Queen. InFrench-suitedTarot card packs,the Cavalier is a fourth court card. By contrast,German-suited packstypically depict an officer or overlord, known as theOber,and a sergeant or peasant known as theUnter.

Until the early 20th century, the termcoat cardwas also common.

History

Persian Ganjifeh courts with an ace

Mamluk Kanjifah courts of cups

While playing cards were invented in China,Chinese playing cardsdo not have a concept of court cards, though two entire suits featured faces for a period of time whenWater Margin cardswere 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,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).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.

King, Ober, and Under of Acorns from a Swiss deck (1880)

The third court card may have had a special role to play since the Spanish, French, and Italians called the newly introduced cardsnaipe,nahipi,andnaibirespectively 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.Each suit contained a seated king and twomarshals,one holding the suit symbol upwards while the other downwards. The marshals correspond to theOberandUnterranks in modern-dayGermanandSwiss 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.

In Italy and Spain, theUnterandOberwere replaced by the standingKnaveand the mountedKnightbefore 1390, perhaps to make them more visually distinguishable. The Spanish rank ofSotameans "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-Yaledeck 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.

Modern Kabufuda Jack

In the 1540s, Portuguese traders brought their Spanish-influenced playing cards to Japan. In 1633, however, theTokugawa shogunatebanned these cards as part of theirSakokupolicy. 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 resultingkabufudadeck. Modern kabufuda is able to utilize a double-headed design influenced by western cards since the ban is no longer in effect.

Emperor Tenjion a yomifuda

Unsun karuta face cards.

There are two Japanese playing card decks that did not face the same restrictions as kabufuda:Uta-garutaandUnsun karuta.Uta-garuta was found to be of literary merit as the cards all featurewakapoems. Half the deck is called yomifuda ( "reading cards" ) and often feature a portrait of thepoetwho wrote it. With 100 poems, this results in 100 face cards. Unsun karuta feature the face cards derived from Portuguese-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 Shiraziis the earliest Persian reference toGanjifaplaying cards which describes a 96-card, 8-suited pack, and features two court cards per suit: the king and the vizier. The cards became popular throughout India where most variants follow the two court cards system, with few exceptions like the obscureMysore Chad Ganjifahaving six court cards: Raja on elephant or throne, Rajni in apalanquin,Amatya or Mantri in aratha,Senani (general) on horseback, Padathi or Sevaka (foot-soldier or servant) and Dhwaja (flag or banner).

As-Nas cards

In 17th century Persia, there were accounts of 25-cardAs-Naspacks in use, with five colored suits, each suit having one court card and four numeral cards.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 Smithwrote that these cards were 'gradually falling into disuse, being replaced by European.'

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,TrappolaandTarocco Bolognesedecks 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 deckswhere full figured courts remain dominant.

Cards

Face cards from theTarot Nouveau

Current playing cards are structured as follows:

• GermanandSwiss playing cardshave three male face cards per suit,Unter/Under(a lower-class man or soldier),Ober(a higher ranking man), andKönig(a seatedKing).
• ItalianandSpanish playing cardshave theFanteorSota(Knave,a younger man standing),CavalloorCaballo(Knightor Cavalier, a man sitting on a horse) andReorRey(King, wearing a crown). Italian suited kings are seated while Spanish suited kings stand. A few Spanish suited patterns andPortuguese suited patternsreplace male knaves with female counterparts. The specificUnsun karutadeck has three additional ranks: the"Un",the"Sun",and theDragon.
• French playing cardsreplaced the middle male with theQueenso it became Knave or "Jack", Queen, and King. French suited Kings stand.
• French and Latintarotdecks have four face cards per suit. Their order is Knave, Knight, Queen, and King for a total of 16 face cards. Figures appearing on tarottrumpsare not considered to be face cards.
• Ganjifaplaying cards have two face cards per suit: the king and thevizier.

While modern decks of playing cards may contain one or moreJokersdepicting a person, such as ajesterorclown,they are not normally considered face cards. The earliest Jokers, known as Best Bowers, did not depict people until the late 1860s.