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拍品专文
This rare and exquisite reversible games board, made in Gujarat, is elegantly decorated with mother-of-pearl. Objects made with this technique were created both for domestic use and export. In the 16th century, mother-of-pearl objects were highly coveted luxury goods, often imported into European royal collections. These lustrous objects, which combined Islamic and Western designs, were often displayed in the courts of Europe rather than used for their intended purposes, such as dining.
This reversible game board has a chessboard on one side, elegantly adorned with alternating mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell squares. The reverse, however, is made for an unidentified game and includes two compartments with raised walls on either side of the board. These features appear to be connected to the obscure gambling game barato—a term also used to describe the kitty or a special situation in table games like backgammon. Unfortunately, only the name of this game has survived (Dr. Jacob Schmidt-Madsen, personal communication, 14 March 2025).
Chess, which originated in India during the Gupta Empire in the 6th century, eventually spread around the world and became one of the most popular and sought-after games. Games boards, common to both the East and West, were some of the first items encountered by Europeans in India that they could use. Duarte Barbosa, who visited India around 1516, recorded seeing bracelets, sword hilts, dice, chessmen, and chessboards. Similarly, Huygen van Linschoten observed “fine playing tables and chessboards of ivory” at Cambay around 1585, and Francesco Pelsaert noted in Sindh around 1626 that draught boards, writing cases, and other goods were manufactured locally in large quantities, often inlaid with ivory and ebony. These items were then exported in large numbers to Goa and coastal towns (Amin Jaffar, Luxury Good from India, The Art of the Indian Cabinet Maker, V&A publication, 2002, p.21).
Gujarat has been known as a center of mother-of-pearl production since at least 1502, when Vasco de Gama received a Gujarati mother-of-pearl bed as a gift from the King of Melinde (Jaffar, op.cit., p.39). However, the origins of this craft in Gujarat are not entirely clear, but it is suggested that East Asian examples, such as Korean sutra boxes (caskets with beveled lids, some dating to the 12th-13th century), may have influenced local craftsmen in Western India. Various forms of mother-of-pearl items were produced, including coffers, caskets, cabinets, pen boxes, shields, thrones, game boards, bookrests, large dishes, and even sandals. Notably, very few examples of surviving reversible board games from this period exist, making such pieces exceptionally rare. This particular game board, with its elaborate design and luxurious materials, was undoubtedly an expensive commission—likely owned by a wealthy or even royal European individual once it was transferred to Europe by the Portuguese as a highly desirable luxury item.
A very similar reversible games board from the 16th century, also decorated with mother-of-pearl, is in the Bavarian National Museum in Munich (R 1099). Two additional reversible games boards, both created in Gujarat, are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Acc. No. 62.14) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (1961-1899).
This reversible game board has a chessboard on one side, elegantly adorned with alternating mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell squares. The reverse, however, is made for an unidentified game and includes two compartments with raised walls on either side of the board. These features appear to be connected to the obscure gambling game barato—a term also used to describe the kitty or a special situation in table games like backgammon. Unfortunately, only the name of this game has survived (Dr. Jacob Schmidt-Madsen, personal communication, 14 March 2025).
Chess, which originated in India during the Gupta Empire in the 6th century, eventually spread around the world and became one of the most popular and sought-after games. Games boards, common to both the East and West, were some of the first items encountered by Europeans in India that they could use. Duarte Barbosa, who visited India around 1516, recorded seeing bracelets, sword hilts, dice, chessmen, and chessboards. Similarly, Huygen van Linschoten observed “fine playing tables and chessboards of ivory” at Cambay around 1585, and Francesco Pelsaert noted in Sindh around 1626 that draught boards, writing cases, and other goods were manufactured locally in large quantities, often inlaid with ivory and ebony. These items were then exported in large numbers to Goa and coastal towns (Amin Jaffar, Luxury Good from India, The Art of the Indian Cabinet Maker, V&A publication, 2002, p.21).
Gujarat has been known as a center of mother-of-pearl production since at least 1502, when Vasco de Gama received a Gujarati mother-of-pearl bed as a gift from the King of Melinde (Jaffar, op.cit., p.39). However, the origins of this craft in Gujarat are not entirely clear, but it is suggested that East Asian examples, such as Korean sutra boxes (caskets with beveled lids, some dating to the 12th-13th century), may have influenced local craftsmen in Western India. Various forms of mother-of-pearl items were produced, including coffers, caskets, cabinets, pen boxes, shields, thrones, game boards, bookrests, large dishes, and even sandals. Notably, very few examples of surviving reversible board games from this period exist, making such pieces exceptionally rare. This particular game board, with its elaborate design and luxurious materials, was undoubtedly an expensive commission—likely owned by a wealthy or even royal European individual once it was transferred to Europe by the Portuguese as a highly desirable luxury item.
A very similar reversible games board from the 16th century, also decorated with mother-of-pearl, is in the Bavarian National Museum in Munich (R 1099). Two additional reversible games boards, both created in Gujarat, are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Acc. No. 62.14) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (1961-1899).