Editing Face card

{{Short description|Playing card depicting a person}}

{{Multiple image|
|total_width=455
|image1=
|image2=52 K di picche.jpg
|image3=51 Q di picche.jpg
|image4=50 J di picche.jpg
|footer=Three court cards (face cards) from an English pattern pack}}
{{Redirects|Court card|the postcard|Court card (postcard)}}
In a deck of [[playing card]]s, the term '''face card''' (US) or '''court card''' (British and US),<ref>{{cite journal|last=Wedgwood|first=Hensleigh|authorlink=Hensleigh Wedgwood|title=On False Etymologies|journal=Transactions of the Philological Society|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3924121;view=1up;seq=81|year=1855|issue=6|pages=71}}</ref> and sometimes '''royalty''', is generally used to describe a card that depicts a person as opposed to the [[pip cards]]. In a [[standard 52-card pack]] of the [[English pattern]], these cards are the [[King (playing card)|King]], [[Queen (playing card)|Queen]] and 
[[Jack (playing card)|Jack]]. The term '''picture card''' is also common, but that term sometimes includes the [[Ace]]s. 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://i-p-c-s.org/history.html|title=History of Playing-Cards|website=i-p-c-s.org|publisher=The International Playing-Card Society|access-date=September 7, 2024}}</ref>

[[Image:Class 8 (4-8-0) Playing Cards.jpg|thumb|A 'picture card' that is not a 'face card.']]

In the standard packs of non-English speaking regions, the face or court cards may be different. For example, in [[Italian-suited cards|Italian-]] and [[Spanish-suited packs]] there is a [[Knight (playing card)|Knight]] or [[Cavalier (playing card)|Cavalier]] instead of a Queen. In [[French-suited]] [[Tarot card pack]]s, the Cavalier is a fourth court card. By contrast, [[German-suited packs]] typically depict an officer or overlord, known as the [[Ober (playing card)|Ober]], and a sergeant or peasant known as the [[Unter (playing card)|Unter]].

Until the early 20th century, the term '''coat card''' was also common.
{{clear}}

==History==
[[File:Ganjifa p16 Researches into the history of playing cards.jpg|thumb|Persian Ganjifeh courts with an ace]]
{{Multiple image|
|total_width=240
|image1=
|image2=Mamluk playing card 5.jpg
|image3=Mamluk playing card 6.jpg
|image4=Mamluk playing card 7.jpg
|footer=Mamluk Kanjifah courts of cups}}
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 when {{ill|Water Margin cards|zh|水滸牌|vertical-align=sup}} were popular. When playing cards arrived in Iran, the Persians created the first face cards. The best preserved deck is located in the [[Topkapı Palace]]. To avoid [[idolatry]],<ref>[http://copag.com.br/en/tudo-sobre-baralhos/origens/ Origin of playing cards] by [[Copag]]. Retrieved 18 February 2017.</ref> the cards did not depict human faces and instead featured abstract designs or calligraphy for the ''malik'' (king), ''nā'ib malik'' (viceroy or deputy king) and ''thānī nā'ib'' (second or under-deputy).<ref>Jensen, K. [http://www.manteia-online.dk/deckreviews/dr002.htm The Mamluk cards] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150426163644/http://www.manteia-online.dk/deckreviews/dr002.htm |date=2015-04-26 }} at Manteia. Retrieved 18 February 2017.</ref> 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.<ref>Gjerde, Tor. [http://cards.old.no/1500-mamluk/ Mamluk cards] at old.no. Retrieved 18 February 2017.</ref><ref name="Dummett">{{cite book|last1=Dummett|first1=Michael|last2=Mann|first2=Sylvia|title=The Game of Tarot|date=1980|publisher=Duckworth|location=London|pages=10-64}}</ref>

[[File:Bildkarten Eicheln 1880er.jpg|thumbnail|left|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 cards ''naipe'', ''nahipi'', and ''naibi'' respectively as opposed to their Arabic name of Kanjifah. In a 1377 description of cards by [[John of Rheinfelden]], the most common decks were structurally the same as the modern [[Standard 52-card deck|52-card deck]].<ref>[http://trionfi.com/0/p/10/t1.php Johannes of Rheinfelden, 1377 at trionfi.com]. Retrieved 18 February 2017.</ref> Each suit contained a seated king and two [[marshal]]s, one holding the suit symbol upwards while the other downwards. The marshals correspond to the ''[[Ober (playing card)|Ober]]'' and ''[[Unter (playing card)|Unter]]'' ranks in modern-day [[German playing cards|German]] and [[Swiss 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 with [[Queen (playing card)|queens]], 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.<ref name="Dummett" />

In Italy and Spain, the ''Unter'' and ''Ober'' were replaced by the standing [[Jack (playing card)|Knave]] and the mounted [[Knight (playing card)|Knight]] before 1390, perhaps to make them more visually distinguishable. The Spanish rank of ''Sota'' means "under". In 15th-century France, the knight was dropped in favour of the queen. The 15th-century Italian game of [[trionfi (cards)|trionfi]], which later became known as [[tarot]], 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 dedicated [[trump suit]], and not considered as court cards though some of them do depict faces. The [[Visconti-Sforza tarot deck#Cary-Yale|Cary-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.

[[File:Kabufuda - 10.jpg|thumb|upright=0.5|Modern Kabufuda Jack]]

In the 1540s, Portuguese traders brought their Spanish-influenced playing cards to Japan. In 1633, however, the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] banned these cards as part of their [[Sakoku]] 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 in [[Kabufuda#Games|games in the "kabu" family]]. Eventually, two face card ranks were dropped and only the Jacks were kept for the resulting [[kabufuda]] deck. Modern kabufuda is able to utilize a double-headed design influenced by western cards since the ban is no longer in effect.

[[File:Hyakuninisshu 001.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.5|[[Emperor Tenji]] on a yomifuda]]

{{CSS image crop
|Image=うんすんカルタ.png
|bSize=800
|cWidth=325
|cHeight=428
|oTop=0
|oLeft=475
|Description = Unsun karuta face cards.
|Alt = Unsun karuta face cards.
}}

There are two Japanese playing card decks that did not face the same restrictions as kabufuda: [[Uta-garuta]] and [[Karuta#Unsun karuta|Unsun karuta]]. Uta-garuta was found to be of literary merit as the cards all feature [[Waka (poetry)|waka]] poems. Half the deck is called yomifuda ("reading cards") and often feature a portrait of the [[Ogura Hyakunin Isshu#Poets|poet]] who 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 their [[ace]]s, 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) by [[Ahli Shirazi]] is the earliest Persian reference to [[Ganjifa]] playing cards which describes a 96-card, 8-suited pack, and features two court cards per suit: the king and the [[Vizier#Playing card rank|vizier]]. The cards became popular throughout India where most variants follow the two court cards system, with few exceptions like the obscure [[Ganjifa#Variants|Mysore Chad Ganjifa]] having six court cards: Raja (king) on elephant or throne, Rajni (queen) in a [[palanquin]], Amatya or Mantri (vizier) in a [[ratha]], Senani (general) on horseback, Padathi or Sevaka (foot-soldier or servant) and Dhwaja (flag or banner).

[[File:Playing cards - Iran- 19th century - IMJ - 2.jpeg|thumb|As-Nas cards]]

In 17th century Persia, there were accounts of 25-card [[As-Nas]] packs in use, with five colored suits, each suit having one court card and four numeral cards.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wilkins |first=Sally |date=2002 |title=Sports and Games of Medieval Cultures |location=Westport, CT, USA |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group}}</ref> 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.'<ref>{{cite book |last=Murdoch Smith |first=Major R. |title=Persian Art |year=1877 |url=https://archive.org/details/persianart00smitgoog |location=New York, USA |publisher=Scribner, Welford & Armstrong |page=41}}</ref>

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]] and [[Tarocco 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 notably [[Spanish-suited playing cards|Spanish-suited decks]] where full figured courts remain dominant.

==Cards==
[[Image:Playingcourts.gif|thumb|upright|Face cards from the [[Tarot Nouveau]]]]

Current playing cards are structured as follows:

*[[German playing cards|German]] and [[Swiss playing cards]] have three male face cards per suit, ''[[Unter (playing card)|Unter/Under]]'' (a lower-class man or soldier), ''[[Ober (playing card)|Ober]]'' (a higher ranking man), and ''König'' (a seated [[King (playing card)|King]]).
*[[Italian playing cards|Italian]] and [[Spanish playing cards]] have the ''Fante'' or ''Sota'' ([[Jack (playing card)|Knave]], a younger man standing), ''Cavallo'' or ''Caballo'' ([[Knight (playing card)|Knight]] or Cavalier, a man sitting on a horse) and ''Re'' or ''Rey'' (King, wearing a crown). Italian suited kings are seated while Spanish suited kings stand. A few Spanish suited patterns and [[Portuguese-suited playing cards|Portuguese suited patterns]] replace male knaves with female counterparts. The specific [[Karuta#Unsun karuta|Unsun karuta]] deck has three additional ranks: the ''"Un"'', the ''"Sun"'', and the ''Dragon''.
*[[French playing cards]] replaced the middle male with the [[Queen (playing card)|Queen]] so it became Knave or "Jack", Queen, and King. French suited Kings stand.
*French and Latin [[tarot]] decks have four face cards per suit. Their order is Knave, Knight, Queen, and King for a total of 16 face cards. Figures appearing on tarot [[trump (card games)|trump]]s are not considered to be face cards.
*[[Ganjifa]] playing cards have two face cards per suit: the king and the [[Vizier#Playing card rank|vizier]].

While modern decks of playing cards may contain one or more [[Joker (Playing Card)|Jokers]] depicting a person, such as a [[jester]] or [[clown]], they are not normally considered face cards. The earliest Jokers, known as Best Bowers, did not depict people until the late 1860s.

==References== 
{{Reflist}}

{{Playing cards}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Face Card}}
[[Category:Playing cards]]
[[Category:Card game terminology]]