- Title
- Gamesboard
- Date Made
- circa 1530-1550
- Period
- Ottoman (1281-1924)
- Medium
- Wood inlaid with ebony, ivory, micromosaic and silver
- Dimensions
- Closed: 18 x 13 1/2 x 2 1/8 in. (45.72 x 34.29 x 2 1/8 cm); Open: 18 1/4 x 26 3/4 x 1 in. (46.36 x 67.95 x 2.54 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2007.100
- Collecting Area
- Art of the Middle East: Islamic
- Curatorial Notes
Luxury wood objects—furniture and furnishings as well as architectural fittings inlaid with precious materials such as ivory, ebony, walnut, silver, gold, and minuscule mosaics—were produced in limited quantities in Ottoman imperial workshops by the early sixteenth century. This rare and spectacular gamesboard provides a wonderful example of this medium. When open, it offers a backgammon board rendered in ivory and ebony inlays with details of silver and tiny mosaics; when closed, it provides two more gaming opportunities, including a chessboard inlaid with ivory and ebony.
The ivory inlaid designs of scrolling cloud bands and trefoil pendants on the backgammon board, alongside the micromosaics enclosed by hexagons and other geometric designs, are related to those on thrones, chests, Qur’an stands, and storage boxes made of the same costly materials from the time of Sultan Süleyman (r. 1520−66), particularly those datable to the second quarter of the sixteenth century. Along with furniture and furnishings, deluxe portable objects such as this gamesboard, which reflect the high aesthetic standards of the court, demonstrate why such items were coveted and collected beyond the Ottoman Empire, often serving as inspiration to European artists.
