Amphora Playing Cards: The Spirit of Ancient Greek Pottery

Introduction

Amphora is a deck drawn in the style of Greek Geometric and black-figure pottery, closely following the artistic conventions of these traditions. It is designed to look as though its artwork could have been taken from an ancient Greek vessel, while remaining fully functional as an ordinary deck of playing cards.

Instead of a modern interpretation of ancient Greek art, Amphora aspires to be an ancient interpretation of modern playing cards.

The Tuck Case

Here is the unfolded tuck case, showing the story of Orpheus, Greek mythology's most renowned musician. Orpheus traveled to the underworld to retrieve his dead wife, Eurydice. By singing to Hades and Persephone, he won permission to bring her back, only to lose her at the last moment. It is a tale of desperate hope and tragedy. Although this part of the Orpheus myth postdates the era of Greek pottery that primarily inspired Amphora, I found the story compelling enough to use it. 

The front panel depicts Orpheus playing the lyre and singing to Hades and Persephone. 

The rear panel shows Eurydice slipping from Orpheus' grasp as she is pulled back to the underworld.  There is actually a cave in Liota, Greece, called the "Orpheus Cave" and I shaped the exit from this cave based on a picture from it.

The side panels on the tuck case are vertical anthemion (palmette-and-lotus) panels, while the top and bottom have wraparound Greek meanders, tongue patterns, and lotus-bud borders.

The Card Back

The card back features a stylized geometric pattern in two-way symmetry, incorporating all four pips. Spades are combined with palmette-and-lotus elements, hearts with lotus-bud elements, clubs with stylized Greek palmettes, and diamonds with tongue elements.

The Suits

Each suit has an original pip, its own decorative elements, and unique animal friezes, all inspired by Greek black-figure pottery. 

Spades

The spade pip is a spearhead. The animal friezes feature horses, boars, panthers, and ducks, while the 10 includes two snakes. Greek meanders form the horizontal bands, while stylized lotus patterns frame each card.

Hearts

The heart pip retains the traditional heart shape, a form sometimes associated with depictions of silphium on ancient Greek coinage. The animal friezes feature cows, geese, rabbits, and goats, while the 10 features fish. Greek tongue patterns form the horizontal bands, while stylized meanders frame each card.

Clubs

The club pip is based on a lotus pattern, stylized in a three-lobed shape.  The animal friezes feature donkeys, geese, eagles, and lions, while the 10 features snakes. Greek meanders form the horizontal bands, while stylized tongue patterns frame each card.

Diamonds

The diamond pip is based on a lozenge pattern.  The animal friezes feature crabs, dolphins, fish, and octopi, while the 10 features squid. Greek meanders form the horizontal bands, while stylized lotus-bud elements frame each card.

Many playing-card decks have featured Greek gods and legendary warriors, and have done so beautifully. Amphora instead features Greek people engaged in everyday life. The jacks represent martial and hunting skills, the queens household and ceremonial activities, and the kings roles typically held by older men.

The spades court cards feature an archer, a woman drawing water in an amphora, and an athletic competition judge.

The hearts feature a slinger, a priestess laying sheaves of grain on an altar, and a scholar/teacher holding a scroll and declaiming.  

The clubs feature a warrior with sword and shield, a seamstress working at a loom, and a priest in ceremonial garb holding a phiale (bowl) preparing to pour a libation.

The diamonds courts feature a warrior with spear and shield, a priestess playing a tympanum (drum) in front of an altar, and a smith working at a forge.  

Jokers

Imagine seeing a rival potter carefully carrying an amphora that he's spent days making. He trips over a rock and drops the amphora. And of course, he's going to blame that damn rock.  So that became a diptych Joker. In the first Joker, he trips over the rock. In the second, the amphora is now ostraka (potsherds), and he's glaring at the rock, fists clenched. 

Here are the jokers:

Gilding

Amphora is available in standard and gilded versions. The gilded edition features bronze-colored edges that complement the terracotta and black palette of the deck.

Deck specifications

Amphora will be professionally printed by Dongguan Tongheng, the same manufacturer that produced Banners of Freedom. The specifications for the finished deck are:

• 54 cards — 52 playing cards + 2 Jokers
• Poker size — 63 × 88 mm
• 300gsm Japanese black-core card stock
• Linen/embossed finish
• Full-color printing
• Traditionally cut
• Gilded Edition: Bronze gilded edges
• Designed by Dapper Jack Playing Cards

The Half-Brick Box

The Attic Half-Brick box is a custom box that shows the animal friezes in much greater detail.  

The ancient coin shown here depicts silphium on coinage from Cyrene and serves as the historical reference for the Amphora coin. The finished 2-inch coin will interpret this original in three-dimensional relief, including its imagery, irregular shape, and deeply struck appearance.

Silphium imagery also has a direct connection to the design of the Hearts in Amphora, making this historical coin a particularly appropriate companion to the deck.

The Inspiration

The inspiration for Amphora came during a visit to the Saint Louis Art Museum, while looking at its collection of Greek pottery. I began wondering what a playing-card deck might look like if its figures, animals, patterns, and decorative elements were drawn as closely as practical from ancient examples.

More than 2,000 years after it was made, ancient Greek pottery is still admired for its extraordinary artistry. I wanted to produce a deck that respects the conventions of these highly skilled potters, using surviving examples of Greek pottery and pottery fragments as references for almost every aspect of the design.

At the same time, certain conventions have to be respected for a functional playing-card deck: two-way symmetry, traditional two-way court cards, unmistakable spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds, and clear indices for playability. The challenge was to respect the source material while creating a deck suitable for everyday play.

To better understand that source material, I invested in three scholarly books by John Boardman covering Greek pottery and both black-figure and red-figure vase painting (the last of which might just someday result in an Amphora II) and tried to immerse myself in this world. I am a dabbler, not a scholar, but I've tried to do the best job I could.

I hope you find Amphora appealing!

Antiquity to Ampora - Reference Images

I have about 200 images of Greek pottery and sherds in my reference collection. Certainly, I'm not going to put them all here! However, I thought it would be informative to show a few examples of the actual art that inspired this deck.

These references, all from online museum collections, were used as inspiration and source material throughout the deck, with the original forms adapted and redrawn to work within the structure of playing cards.

Rewards

Rewards include individual Standard and Gilded decks; discounted two-deck sets, including the Potter's Pair (one Standard + one Gilded); and six-deck Attic Half-Bricks in Standard, Gilded, or mixed configurations. Each six-deck reward includes a custom Attic Half-Brick box.

The Amphora coin and all deck configurations are also available as add-ons.

Purchases of 6 decks can be made for the greatest discount, and come with a free half-brick box.

The coin is available as an add-on, as are all the other rewards.