Matthew Thomas
Senior Specialist
Lot 37Ф,Y
A Nasrid ebony- and ivory-inlaid wood Games Board Spain, 15th Century
21 April 2015, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street£15,000 - £20,000
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A Nasrid ebony- and ivory-inlaid wood Games Board
Spain, 15th Century
Spain, 15th Century
Formed as a hinged box, the exterior functioning as a games board with alternating ebony and ivory squares, the whole with border of small ivory circles placed at intervals, opening to reveal a backgammon board with alternating white and brown wood triangles along each side, the centre of each face with a lozenge of mosaic work
27 cm. wide; 47 cm. wide; 12 cm. high (closed); 55 x 47 cm. (open)
27 cm. wide; 47 cm. wide; 12 cm. high (closed); 55 x 47 cm. (open)
Footnotes
Chess and backgammon were popular in the Islamic world and were introduced into the Iberian peninsula in the 10th Century. Boards featuring both games were popular from the 14th Century onwards. A wood example in Granada (Arte Islamico en Granada,exhibition catalogue, Granada, 1995, no. 181, p. 427); and another in the Kunsthistorischesmuseum, Vienna are of the non-folding variety, while two 15th Century folding examples sold at auction (Christie's Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, 13 April 2010, lot 56; and Christie's, Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, 5 October 2010, Lot 163.
The taracea technique of inlaying was used in decoration throughout Spain and North Africa, present in court commissions under the Almoravids and the Almohads as well as the Nasrids. Very little of Nasrid art is figurative and the technique of inlay suited the extensive use of wood characteristic of this period (M.Rosser-Owen, Islamic Arts from Spain, London, 2010, p. 55).