La Dame de Carreau
"The Queen of Diamonds rises, cut in crystalline light,
Her facets blaze brighter than the spade courts that brood in shades of midnight.
She outshines the hearts’ soft bloom with a glitter sharp and bold,
And leaves the clubs’ dark ranks to wilt beneath her gold.
No rival suit can match her jeweled, commanding gleam,
She rules the deck with elegance carved from a gambler’s dream.
A sovereign forged in diamonds, radiant and rare,
She turns the whole pack breathless just by cutting through the air."
A poetic offering written by your humble photographer (2026).
These beautiful whist playing cards were made in Germany by the card firm B. Dondorf around 1912. The deck features beautiful chromolithographed images of people dressed in the pomaded wigs, frock coats, jabots and gowns of Pre-Revolutionary Eighteenth Century France, as the kings, queens and knaves in the deck. Sets like these are very collectable today, since even though millions of Dondorf cards were produced, complete packets in such good condition are hard to come by.
The theme for "Looking Close on Friday" for the 22nd of May is "cubes". Now whether it be the luck of the cards I was dealt, or otherwise, but a month before the theme was announced, I bought this amber resin cube from a jewellery shop. It's original intent is to be a jewellery display, but I bought it because I saw the lovely colourful shadows it created under a bright light. Originally I did photograph it on a plain white background in the sunshine, and I decided that was that. Then last weekend I was playing with my cube again, and placed it on some of my antique Dondorf playing cards, imagining it to be an amber dice. The light fell across the Queen of Spades face, highlighting it. That got me to playing with it and I decided that as the theme was "cubes", I'd turn my cube into a diamond, and so it frames the Queen of Diamonds' face. This set of antique cards with its amazing graphics seemed a lovely choice. I hope you like my choice for the theme this week, and that it makes you smile.
The firm of B. Dondorf was founded in April 1833 by the lithographer Bernard Dondorf, who headed the company until July 1872. In that year, Dondorf's sons Carl and Paul, as well as his son in law Jacob Fries, assumed control of the firm which continued to operate under the original trademark. Jacob Fries left the firm in the early part of 1890. From the beginning, the company specialised in all branches of lithography. In cooperation with the printing firm of C. Naumann, Dondorf also printed paper bank notes for the Italian National Bank and for the Imperial Japanese Government. In 1871, the firm moved within Frankfurt from the Saalgasse to a new and larger factory site in the Bockenheimer Landstrasse 136. The steady growth of the company required the building of still additional subdivisions in 1890 and 1895. Principal products of the firm were playing cards, various games, greeting and post cards and various religious prints. The export of playing cards at Dondorf's accounted for much of the firm's business. The Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Norway and Sweden in the period before World War I, for example, imported nearly all of their playing cards from Dondorf. Similarly, the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia were excellent customers. Bernard Dondorf, the founder died in his 94th year. He earned an enviable reputation as a lithographer, especially for his technique of etching the stone with a diamond stylus. His special methods of engraving bank notes were also unique. In 1929 the decision was reached to liquidate the firm.
La Dame de Carreau
"The Queen of Diamonds rises, cut in crystalline light,
Her facets blaze brighter than the spade courts that brood in shades of midnight.
She outshines the hearts’ soft bloom with a glitter sharp and bold,
And leaves the clubs’ dark ranks to wilt beneath her gold.
No rival suit can match her jeweled, commanding gleam,
She rules the deck with elegance carved from a gambler’s dream.
A sovereign forged in diamonds, radiant and rare,
She turns the whole pack breathless just by cutting through the air."
A poetic offering written by your humble photographer (2026).
These beautiful whist playing cards were made in Germany by the card firm B. Dondorf around 1912. The deck features beautiful chromolithographed images of people dressed in the pomaded wigs, frock coats, jabots and gowns of Pre-Revolutionary Eighteenth Century France, as the kings, queens and knaves in the deck. Sets like these are very collectable today, since even though millions of Dondorf cards were produced, complete packets in such good condition are hard to come by.
The theme for "Looking Close on Friday" for the 22nd of May is "cubes". Now whether it be the luck of the cards I was dealt, or otherwise, but a month before the theme was announced, I bought this amber resin cube from a jewellery shop. It's original intent is to be a jewellery display, but I bought it because I saw the lovely colourful shadows it created under a bright light. Originally I did photograph it on a plain white background in the sunshine, and I decided that was that. Then last weekend I was playing with my cube again, and placed it on some of my antique Dondorf playing cards, imagining it to be an amber dice. The light fell across the Queen of Spades face, highlighting it. That got me to playing with it and I decided that as the theme was "cubes", I'd turn my cube into a diamond, and so it frames the Queen of Diamonds' face. This set of antique cards with its amazing graphics seemed a lovely choice. I hope you like my choice for the theme this week, and that it makes you smile.
The firm of B. Dondorf was founded in April 1833 by the lithographer Bernard Dondorf, who headed the company until July 1872. In that year, Dondorf's sons Carl and Paul, as well as his son in law Jacob Fries, assumed control of the firm which continued to operate under the original trademark. Jacob Fries left the firm in the early part of 1890. From the beginning, the company specialised in all branches of lithography. In cooperation with the printing firm of C. Naumann, Dondorf also printed paper bank notes for the Italian National Bank and for the Imperial Japanese Government. In 1871, the firm moved within Frankfurt from the Saalgasse to a new and larger factory site in the Bockenheimer Landstrasse 136. The steady growth of the company required the building of still additional subdivisions in 1890 and 1895. Principal products of the firm were playing cards, various games, greeting and post cards and various religious prints. The export of playing cards at Dondorf's accounted for much of the firm's business. The Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Norway and Sweden in the period before World War I, for example, imported nearly all of their playing cards from Dondorf. Similarly, the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia were excellent customers. Bernard Dondorf, the founder died in his 94th year. He earned an enviable reputation as a lithographer, especially for his technique of etching the stone with a diamond stylus. His special methods of engraving bank notes were also unique. In 1929 the decision was reached to liquidate the firm.