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Game Board for Chess and Backgammon with Twenty Playing Pieces

1st half 14th c., with later alterations

 

 

Game Board for Chess and Backgammon with Twenty Playing Pieces

In the Middle Ages the game of chess was considered one of the knightly arts. Thus this board’s numerous figures are based on motifs of the knightly-courtly world and refer to hunting, music, courtly love (Minne) and the fight against monsters. Very few such game boards from medieval times have been preserved. This one was first documented in the Ambras collection of Archduke Ferdinand II in 1596.

Location: Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Kunstkammer Wien Raum XXXVI

Object data

Object Name

Game; Game board

Culture

Venice (?)

Dated

1st half 14th c., with later alterations

Material

Wood with certosina inlay, jasper, bone, agate, chalcedony, painted clay reliefs and miniatures under rock crystal

Dimensions

H. 3 cm, L. 38 cm, B. 38 cm

Image rights

Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Kunstkammer

Inv. No.

Kunstkammer, 168

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