Russian: Адольф Иосифович Шарлемань
Artist
St. Petersburg, Russia
8 December 1826, - 31 January 1901
If you have ever shuffled a pack of cards, congratulations, you have created something new! That is everytime you shuffle a pack of cards you might have shuffled the cards into an order that they have never been in since the existance of shufflering cards! I recently was in a museum and the guide asked for my name, her response was “oh, that name disturbs me a bit”, my father-in-law jumped in and said what about the name Ioseph? (Stalin), which she responded, “well, yes that too but I suppose I got used to it”, Today I want to introduce you to a fellow that has three powerful names packed in one, Adolf Iosifovich Charlemagne.
Adolf’s father was a well-respected architect in St. Petersburg, where he built the ministry of interior, the medical department, a theatre, a barracks, the church of St. John, the church of the Holy Prince Vladimir, he took part in rebuilding the Lithuanian castle in st. Petersburg. His Grandfather Charlemagne-Bode, Jean-Baptiste was a sculptor originally from Rouen in France. Thus Adolf was from a line of artists and followed that line, he went to school at the Petrischule one of the oldest schools in Russia. He then went into the academy of arts where he studied painting with Fyodor Bruni during this time Adolf received awards for his battle scene paintings. His awards made him somewhat famous and granted him the possibility for funding to study in Munich with Alexander Kotzebue he also briefly visited Paris and studied the paintings at Versailles. On returning to Russia the military employed him and he also painted for Russian nobility. In 1873 he received the title of artist of His Imperial Majesty. His painting of Catherine the Great granted him an academic career and promoted him as professor of Art. He also worked for the Federal State Unitary Enterprise which is a Russian stock company where he designed the art for bonds and securities. Most his work no one would recognise but almost every Russian speaker would have at least once seen his work, — on playing cards.
The Russian empire was late in joining the card game only introducing them in the 17th century and were almost immediately banned in 1649 as they were considered a game for thieves. Exactly because of the ban, they increased in popularity. Since they were illegal cards had to be imported which meant the customs office were happy. The government had a card up their sleeve they made importing cards illegal and established a state monopoly on their own cards. The cards they made were covered in talcum powder to make them easier to shuffle and were called satin cards Russian: атласные карты. By this stage the Russian unified system of cards was not established were they going to use bells, swords, or balalaikas on their cards? For the most part they copied the French system and in 1862 a design was chosen none other than the work of Adolf Charlemagne. His was one of perhaps 50 designs in circulation, however, it became the standard and remains the standard up till today, in fact, I asked my in-laws for a pack of cards and indeed it is the Adolf Chalrmange card design. The German influence meant they decided for a 36 card deck, but, the suits are in the French style. (♣, ♦, ♥, ♠)
Cards in Russia became more popular through the works of authors, particularly Alexander Pushkin in his “Queen of Spades”. The slang phrase “shestyorka” (six) refers to the lower classes or an underling since in the Russian deck 6 is the lowest card number since the 2-5 are removed from the deck leaving only 32 cards in a deck.
A Variety of games
As mentioned, if you shuffle a pack of cards you create something new, it is likely that a pack of cards has never been in the particular order you shuffled it into. Likewise with only 52 cards thousands of card games have developed and the variety of games really are endless. Here is a great site to get some ideas for card games for your next long train ride. https://playingcarddecks.com/blogs/all-in/40-great-card-games-for-all-occasions
History
Playing cards seem to have first been made in China in the 9th century and already included 4 suits. The oldest surviving playing cards are from the 11th century and were found in Egypt, but represent only fragments of a whole deck. The suits comprised of polo-sticks, coins, swords and cups. From Egypt cards made their way into Europe. In the early15th century Ulm, Nuremberg and Augsburg had factories for making playing cards. The Egyptian/Arabic court cards were changed to European royalty and each nation had their own idea for suits. The French used; Hears, Tiles, Clovers and Pikes, Germany; Hearts, Bells, Acorns, Leaves, Italian and Spanish cards used Cups, coins, clubs, and swords and the Swiss-Germans used Roses, bells acorns and shields. The Russian cards which Adolf painted used the French system, but the way they are named is somewhat confusing.
Clubs (♣) Трефы is a transcription of the French “trèfles” but a more common term is “крести”, which means cross.
Hearts (♥) Червы (Chervi) is an old-fashioned word that means gold, but in modern Russian it sounds a bit like the word for a worm.
Spades (♠) Пики also derived from the French “piques” which in English is a Pike. An alternative and more flavoursome name is “вини” refering to wine since they look somewhat like a grape leaf.
Diamonds (♦) Буби the name refers to bells, but for the English speaker “буби” sounds like booby.
As for the royal cards
T (туз, tuz) from German: Daus
К (король, karol) meaning King
Д (дама, dama from German: Dame) for Queen
В (валет, valet from French) for Jack
Custom cards
Over the year's card companies have designed custom cards including royalty, movies, cartoons and even pornographic cards. There are also custom made decks for companies and casinos, and the largest collection of decks is around 11,000 owned by Lui Fuchang of China.
Protea
The most well known South African cards possibly after bicycle cards are by the Protea Playing Card company based in Johannesburg, as a child I remember having a big 5 pack of Protea cards. There is something about cards that captivate the mind of a child, they are associated with games and magic. One particular cool trick I remember was picking a card shuffling it and looking at the back of the cards to be able to find the chosen card again. It is this kind of trickery that got Protea cards in trouble with South African casinos to the point that they banned using their cards; I imagine for the card industry that is the worst thing that could happen to you. https://allafrica.com/stories/200004060153.html
Emotions
Cards are good for entertainment, but it turns out they are also great to keep your mind sharp helping to fight of Alzheimers and dementia. Card games, mostly have simple rules, but are difficult to implement and take a lifetime to master it is for this reason that there is such a strong attachment to cards which is good for our emotional stability. Card games allow us to learn and develop strategies and skills and look for patterns which transfer over to life. Many games require basic arithmetic and a good application of logic. There are games that require waiting for the right moment to take risks. In all card games there is a winner and Losser both outcomes require an appropriate response. Professional card gamers lose all the time, it teaches that loosing is okay, if not expected. In Germany I have met some young people who meet weekly to play "Skat" and if you want to make some friends with older folks cards are your way in. https://www.theemotionmachine.com/the-emotional-benefits-of-playing-card-games/
Memorising a pack of cards
The memory specialist Anthony Metivier suggests learning a language or really to memorize anything you want a great place to start is to learn how to memorise a pack of cards more at this link. This is how I found this Adolf I was practicing memorizing cards I tried to demonstrate it to my mother-in-law but I did not know the names of the suits in Russian, I later and googled for Russian playing cards and there he was Adolf Charlemagne. It is hard to believe that for over 160 years Russians have been using the same artwork for playing cards however I am grateful that I can pick up a pack of cheap cards at any shop and know this is the work of my nameling Adolf Charlemagne.
Whenever a Russian speaker sees a pack of cards they announce let us play Durak, it seems to me that it is the only game they know how to play. The aim is to get rid of all the cards in your hand and the player with a hand full of cards is the durak or fool. Apparently another relatively popular Russian card game is “preferans” but, no one has ever mentioned the game to me. Both of these games are played with a 36 and 32 card deck, respectively.
Although Adolf will most likely be remembered best for his playing cards he was a well respected artist. If you want a pack of Adolf playing cards here is an affiliate link to the German Amazon store,
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