Far East

Heraclio Fournier and Sons

From the Spanish card maker Heraclio Fournier and Sons comes another entry in their series of double decks of international, historic aesthetics. Like the rest of these decks, they're not a rigorous study of authentic costume or art, but rather a look at the "classic" or stereotypical costumes. Only the face cards have costumes, and the Aces have graphic designs evocative of the culture of each suit. In that sense, the decks consciously mirror standard card packs, only changing the design of the face cards.

Each suit reflects a different country, and each card within the suit shows an appropriately ranked costume, the Kings being lords, the Queens ladies, and the Jacks, well, knaves of a fashion. Spades show the costume of Japan, Hearts are India, Diamonds are Indonesia, and Clubs are China.

As a nice additional touch, the card faces and backs have a metallic "gold" illumination, which really doesn't scan well. Though my copy has not aged gracefully, the beauty of the production still shines through. The artwork by itself is as unremarkable as it is accurate, but combined with the illumination and the overall aesthetics, it's quite pretty. Now all I need to do is convince Congress, who has exclusive distribution rights in the USA, not to deface the box with their sticker.

All images © Heraclio Fournier and Sons, displayed here for commentary, analysis and appreciation only.