Playing cards?

who were the kings,queens and jacks modeled on


were they real people or just made up?

Playing cards?
To fully answer your question see my source (below)


The following gives you a "taster"





In a deck of cards, the courts and the jokers, if any, are the most interesting subjects, because their illustrations with human figures usually contain many interesting details. According to the deck, these personages may be single-headed or double-headed (i.e. the character may be either shown in full length, or doubled by a line which cuts the character into two symmetrical halves). Furthermore, the personages may be shown in different attitudes, the clothes they wear may change, colours too may be very different, the suit signs may not be the usual ones, and the overall graphic style may suggest a given theme. All together, these elements form the deck's pattern.
Reply:there based on real people(all kings,queens and jacks existant at the time).(hope this helps!)
Reply:i bought this pack of card once and it looks like the face cards are modeled on people who work in the adult "entertainment" business.





best set of cards ever.





for a real answer try wikipedia-ing "playing cards".