Re: Cardmakers of Aix-en-Provence
Posted: 11 Nov 2025, 17:09
You have probably seen this post I made about Chaffard on Aeclectic probably over 20 years ago, but here it is for the record here. I'll have to post photos of the two other Musée Paul Dupuy and Raymond Ros articles for you here.
"The Chafard family (also spelled Chaffard) were an 18th century family who made cards in Marseille and Béziers. The Monde card in jmd's post is illustrated in "Schweizer Spielkarten 2" (Schaffhausen, 2004), pp. 160-161 (catalogue number 22).
The deck is named as "Joseph Chafard" and dated on the 2 of Deniers as 1747. There is a Bacchus on the 2 of Cups. Thierry Depaulis made the historical notes on the decks illustrated in the catalogue, and he knew that the Chafards were prominent in Béziers. But because he also knew that there is no indication that tarot cards were ever made in Béziers (or anywhere in the south, west of the Rhône in fact), he tentatively assigned it to Marseille.
As I explain below, I believe that the cardmaker Joseph Chafard is to be identified as the oldest son of Louis Chaffard of Béziers from his third marriage.
The two main sources of information about the Chaffards are:
(ed. "R.M.") "La carte à jouer en Languedoc, des origines à 1800" (Toulouse, Musée Paul Dupuy, 1971), pp. 41-43 and 95.
Raymond Ros, _Les Maitres-Cartiers Biterrois au XVIIIe Siècle et l'Aventure du Cartier Chaffard_, printed in J.-D. Bergasse, ed. "Hommage à Jacques Fabre de Morlhon, Mélanges historiques et généalogiques, Rouergue - Bas-Languedoc" (Albi, 1978) pp. 393-402.
H.-R. d'Allemagne first collected data on the Chaffard family of cartiers.
From these three researchers, I constructed the following family tree and deduced certain facts:
Louis Dreveton (Maître-cartier de Marseille) had daughter Françoise, who lived until 1722. Françoise married Louis Chaffard, who would have four wives:
____1). Françoise Dreveton (?-ca. 1722)
____2). Françoise Bernard (?-ca. 1727)
____3). Anne or Marie-Rose Brès (?-1733)
____4). Claire Landes
With Françoise Dreveton (1), Louis had four children:
____1). Jean-Louis (1718-?)
____2). Lucrese
____3). Marguerite
____4). Charles-Roch (1721-?)
With Françoise Bernard (2), Louis had 3 children:
____1). Estienne (1723-?)
____2). Marie (1724-?)
____3). Catharine (1725-?)
With Anne or Marie-Rose Brès (3), Louis had 2 children:
____1). Joseph-Louis (1728-?)
____2). Antoine (1730-?)
With his last wife Claire Landes (4), no children are noted.
D'Allemagne guesses that Louis Chaffard went from Béziers to Marseille around 1750 (II, 404). But Ros found that Louis Chaffard, cartier of Béziers, was in fact dead in 1749. In order to account for this apparent contradiction, Ros suggests the following scenario: surmising (probably correctly) that Louis Dreveton was the father of Chaffard's first wife, and noting that Dreveton was the god-father of Jean-Louis in 1718, and was listed as a witness to Louis Chaffard's last wedding, to Claire Landes, in 1733, Ros suggests that the grandfather raised his grandson Jean-LOUIS in Marseille after the death of his daughter, Jean-Louis' mother, in 1721 or 1722.
However, according to Ros, Jean-Louis (in addition to being a card-maker) is attested as fourth consul of Béziers from 1734-1737, and again from 1742-1749. It seems unlikely that he could have exercised the profession of cartier in Marseille as well! (this is a mistake of Ros' - see further below). Given that Dreveton was close enough to Chaffard to be a witness to his fourth marriage, it seems plausible that instead of his own grandchildren, Dreveton might have taken the two *youngest* of Chaffard's children, from his 3rd marriage, to Marseille, where one of them, JOSEPH-Louis, might have become the cardmaker whose name appears on the tarot of 1747. If so, he would have been only 19 years old when the moulds were carved.
Moreover, although D'Allemagne tells us to be careful not to confuse Louis Chaffard of Béziers with the Louis Chaffard of Marseille (II, 404), he does not give proof that the Chaffard mentioned in Marseille in 1753 actually had the first name "Louis" when he alludes to the document mentioning him in vol. II, pp. 319-320. Moreover, in his indices, he refers to this Marseillais as only "Chaffard", with no prénom. We therefore have room to suspect that it was another Chaffard who went from Béziers to Marseille (or who was native to Marseille).
Here are excerpts of a study I sent to Thierry Depaulis. He agrees with my conclusions -
"I finally have some time this weekend to do a little study. Attached are the family relations among the Chaffards that I have culled from Ros' article, and a comment about D'Allemagne and Ros. Louis Chaffard, cartier of Béziers, married the (likely) daughter of Louis Dreveton, maître-cartier of Marseille around 1718. I don't know if the marriage took place in Béziers or Marseille, but Louis' entire career was spent in Béziers.
I believe the best suggestion is that one of Louis Chaffard's sons from his third marriage, Joseph-Louis Chaffard, is the card maker named on the remains of the tarot illustrated in Schweizer Spielkarten 2. It is not clear from D'Allemagne that the Chaffard in Marseille in 1753 was actually named "Louis" Chaffard, as both he (cf. II, 319-320 with II, 404) and Ros (depending on him) think.
On page 396 Ros writes : "Jean-Louis était encore en 1748 et 1749 quatrième consul de Béziers, fonctions qu'il avait exercées de 1734 à 1737 et de 1742 à 1749..."
On checking through the pièces jusificatives, I noted that "Jean-Louis Chaffard" is never mentioned as a cartier in Béziers - only Louis. Furthermore, "Jean-Louis" would only have been 16 (if not 15) in 1734, when he is supposed to have been consul of Béziers!
In fact, Jean-Louis may have nothing at all to do with this tale. Neither Ros nor D'Allemagne knew the "Joseph Chaffard" tarot, so we are looking for a Joseph, not a Louis, nor a Jean-Louis.
I think it much more likely to be Marseille, only because tarots are not known in Béziers (to the best of my knowledge), and only Louis and Charles Roch Chaffard are known as cartiers de Béziers. The little Bacchus (on the 2 of Cups) may then be the younger Chaffard's way of recognizing his origins (the cultivation of the vine has always been the first industry of our region), or simply a typical card deck image."
https://www.tarotforum.net/threads/the- ... ost-762156
"The Chafard family (also spelled Chaffard) were an 18th century family who made cards in Marseille and Béziers. The Monde card in jmd's post is illustrated in "Schweizer Spielkarten 2" (Schaffhausen, 2004), pp. 160-161 (catalogue number 22).
The deck is named as "Joseph Chafard" and dated on the 2 of Deniers as 1747. There is a Bacchus on the 2 of Cups. Thierry Depaulis made the historical notes on the decks illustrated in the catalogue, and he knew that the Chafards were prominent in Béziers. But because he also knew that there is no indication that tarot cards were ever made in Béziers (or anywhere in the south, west of the Rhône in fact), he tentatively assigned it to Marseille.
As I explain below, I believe that the cardmaker Joseph Chafard is to be identified as the oldest son of Louis Chaffard of Béziers from his third marriage.
The two main sources of information about the Chaffards are:
(ed. "R.M.") "La carte à jouer en Languedoc, des origines à 1800" (Toulouse, Musée Paul Dupuy, 1971), pp. 41-43 and 95.
Raymond Ros, _Les Maitres-Cartiers Biterrois au XVIIIe Siècle et l'Aventure du Cartier Chaffard_, printed in J.-D. Bergasse, ed. "Hommage à Jacques Fabre de Morlhon, Mélanges historiques et généalogiques, Rouergue - Bas-Languedoc" (Albi, 1978) pp. 393-402.
H.-R. d'Allemagne first collected data on the Chaffard family of cartiers.
From these three researchers, I constructed the following family tree and deduced certain facts:
Louis Dreveton (Maître-cartier de Marseille) had daughter Françoise, who lived until 1722. Françoise married Louis Chaffard, who would have four wives:
____1). Françoise Dreveton (?-ca. 1722)
____2). Françoise Bernard (?-ca. 1727)
____3). Anne or Marie-Rose Brès (?-1733)
____4). Claire Landes
With Françoise Dreveton (1), Louis had four children:
____1). Jean-Louis (1718-?)
____2). Lucrese
____3). Marguerite
____4). Charles-Roch (1721-?)
With Françoise Bernard (2), Louis had 3 children:
____1). Estienne (1723-?)
____2). Marie (1724-?)
____3). Catharine (1725-?)
With Anne or Marie-Rose Brès (3), Louis had 2 children:
____1). Joseph-Louis (1728-?)
____2). Antoine (1730-?)
With his last wife Claire Landes (4), no children are noted.
D'Allemagne guesses that Louis Chaffard went from Béziers to Marseille around 1750 (II, 404). But Ros found that Louis Chaffard, cartier of Béziers, was in fact dead in 1749. In order to account for this apparent contradiction, Ros suggests the following scenario: surmising (probably correctly) that Louis Dreveton was the father of Chaffard's first wife, and noting that Dreveton was the god-father of Jean-Louis in 1718, and was listed as a witness to Louis Chaffard's last wedding, to Claire Landes, in 1733, Ros suggests that the grandfather raised his grandson Jean-LOUIS in Marseille after the death of his daughter, Jean-Louis' mother, in 1721 or 1722.
However, according to Ros, Jean-Louis (in addition to being a card-maker) is attested as fourth consul of Béziers from 1734-1737, and again from 1742-1749. It seems unlikely that he could have exercised the profession of cartier in Marseille as well! (this is a mistake of Ros' - see further below). Given that Dreveton was close enough to Chaffard to be a witness to his fourth marriage, it seems plausible that instead of his own grandchildren, Dreveton might have taken the two *youngest* of Chaffard's children, from his 3rd marriage, to Marseille, where one of them, JOSEPH-Louis, might have become the cardmaker whose name appears on the tarot of 1747. If so, he would have been only 19 years old when the moulds were carved.
Moreover, although D'Allemagne tells us to be careful not to confuse Louis Chaffard of Béziers with the Louis Chaffard of Marseille (II, 404), he does not give proof that the Chaffard mentioned in Marseille in 1753 actually had the first name "Louis" when he alludes to the document mentioning him in vol. II, pp. 319-320. Moreover, in his indices, he refers to this Marseillais as only "Chaffard", with no prénom. We therefore have room to suspect that it was another Chaffard who went from Béziers to Marseille (or who was native to Marseille).
Here are excerpts of a study I sent to Thierry Depaulis. He agrees with my conclusions -
"I finally have some time this weekend to do a little study. Attached are the family relations among the Chaffards that I have culled from Ros' article, and a comment about D'Allemagne and Ros. Louis Chaffard, cartier of Béziers, married the (likely) daughter of Louis Dreveton, maître-cartier of Marseille around 1718. I don't know if the marriage took place in Béziers or Marseille, but Louis' entire career was spent in Béziers.
I believe the best suggestion is that one of Louis Chaffard's sons from his third marriage, Joseph-Louis Chaffard, is the card maker named on the remains of the tarot illustrated in Schweizer Spielkarten 2. It is not clear from D'Allemagne that the Chaffard in Marseille in 1753 was actually named "Louis" Chaffard, as both he (cf. II, 319-320 with II, 404) and Ros (depending on him) think.
On page 396 Ros writes : "Jean-Louis était encore en 1748 et 1749 quatrième consul de Béziers, fonctions qu'il avait exercées de 1734 à 1737 et de 1742 à 1749..."
On checking through the pièces jusificatives, I noted that "Jean-Louis Chaffard" is never mentioned as a cartier in Béziers - only Louis. Furthermore, "Jean-Louis" would only have been 16 (if not 15) in 1734, when he is supposed to have been consul of Béziers!
In fact, Jean-Louis may have nothing at all to do with this tale. Neither Ros nor D'Allemagne knew the "Joseph Chaffard" tarot, so we are looking for a Joseph, not a Louis, nor a Jean-Louis.
I think it much more likely to be Marseille, only because tarots are not known in Béziers (to the best of my knowledge), and only Louis and Charles Roch Chaffard are known as cartiers de Béziers. The little Bacchus (on the 2 of Cups) may then be the younger Chaffard's way of recognizing his origins (the cultivation of the vine has always been the first industry of our region), or simply a typical card deck image."
https://www.tarotforum.net/threads/the- ... ost-762156
