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Painted and Inlaid Game Board

late 17th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 463
This gameboard is painted on both sides with an eight by eight grid on one side for chess (the side on display) or draughts and a backgammon table on the other side. Both chess and backgammon were highly popular board games in the Islamic world and were even the subject of a Persian text composed in the ninth century, Wizarishn i catrang ud nihishn i new-ardashir (Explanation of Chess and the Invention of Backgammon). This late seventeenth-century board is finely executed with a symmetrical arabesque design on one set of squares and a flowering plant on the alternate squares. The flowering plants are carefully painted, and eight different flower varieties can be identified. The board was probably painted, varnished, and gilded over a wooden framework by a craftsman who had been trained to adorn bindings for manuscripts.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Painted and Inlaid Game Board
  • Date: late 17th century
  • Geography: Made in India
  • Medium: Wood; painted, varnished and gilded; with metal hinges
  • Dimensions: H. 17 1/4 in. (43.8 cm)
    W. 14 3/8 in. (36.5 cm)
    D. 1/4 in. (0.6 cm)
  • Classification: Wood
  • Credit Line: Louis E. and Theresa S. Seley Purchase Fund for Islamic Art and Rogers Fund, 1983
  • Object Number: 1983.374
  • Curatorial Department: Islamic Art

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