The board rests on four bulls' legs; one is completely restored and another only partially. There is a drawer with a bolt to store the playing pieces: five pins with hounds' heads and five with jackals' heads. The board is shaped like an axe-blade, and there are 58 holes in the upper surface with an incised palm tree topped by a shen sign in the center. Howard Carter and the Earl of Carnarvon reconstructed the game as follows in their publication of the find (Five Years of Explorations at Thebes, A Record of Work Done 1907-1911, London, Oxford, New York, 1912, p. 58): "Presuming the 'Shen' sign ... to be the goal, we find on either side twenty-nine holes, or including the goal, thirty aside. Among these holes, on either side, two are marked ..nefer, 'good'; and four others are linked together by curved lines. Assuming that the holes marked 'good' incur a gain, it would appear that the others, connected by lines, incur a loss. Now the moves themselves could easily have been denoted by the chance cast of knuckle-bones or dice....and if so we have before us a simple, but exciting, game of chance."
Egyptians likened the intricate voyage through the underworld to a game. This made gaming boards and gaming pieces appropriate objects to deposit in tombs.
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Dimensions:Board: H. 6.8 cm (2 11/16 in.); W. 10.1 cm (4 in.); D. 15.6 cm (6 1/8 in.); Average height with pins: 14 cm (5 1/2 in.); Jackal pins: H. 7 cm (2 3/4 in.) to 8.5 cm (3 3/8 in.) Bottom (2012.508): L. 12.9 cm (5 1/16 in); W. 7.4 cm (2 15/16 in); Th. 0.3 cm (1/8 in) Hound pins: H. 6 cm (2 3/8 in.) to 6.8 cm (2 11/16 in.)
Credit Line:Purchase, Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1926 (26.7.1287a-k); Gift of Lord Carnarvon, 2012 (2012.508)
Object Number:26.7.1287a–k
Excavated by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon, 1910; acquired by Lord Carnarvon in the division of finds (26.7.1287a–k, 2012.508). Carnarvon Collection purchased by the Museum from Lady Carnarvon, 1926 (26.7.1287a–k). Bottom of gameboard remained in the Carnarvon family until given to the Museum by the 8th Earl of Carnarvon, 2012 (2012.508)
Carnarvon, 5th Earl of and Howard Carter 1912. Five Years' Explorations at Thebes: a record of work done 1907–1911. London: Oxford University Press, pp. 56–59, fig. 14, pl. L. 1–2.
Newberry, Percy E. and H. R. Hall 1922. Catalogue of an Exhibition of Ancient Egyptian Art. London: Burlington Fine Arts Club, pp. 59-60 no. 14.
Lythgoe, Albert M. 1927. "The Carnarvon Egyptian Collection." In The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 22, no. 2 (February), p. 32 (photo).
Winlock, Herbert E. 1935. Private Life of the Ancient Egyptians. New York, fig. 19.
Scott, Nora E. 1944. Home Life of the Ancient Egyptians: A Picture Book. New York: Plantin Press, fig. 32.
Hayes, William C. 1953. Scepter of Egypt I: A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Middle Kingdom. Cambridge, Mass.: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 250, fig. 160.
Posener, Georges 1959. Dictionnaire de la civilisation égyptienne. Paris: F. Hazan, p. 141.
Scott, Nora E. 1973. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, new ser., vol. 31, no. 3 (Spring), New York, pp. 164–65, fig. 39.
Finkel, Irving 2008. "Game Board: Game of Fifty-eight Holes." In Beyond Babylon: art, trade, and diplomacy in the second millennium B.C., edited by Joan Aruz, Kim Benzel, and Jean M. Evans. New York; New Haven and London: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 153, no. 92.
Dunn-Vaturi, Anne-Elizabeth 2015. "Game of Hounds and Jackals." In Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom, edited by Adela Oppenheim, Dorothea Arnold, Dieter Arnold, and Kei Yamamoto. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 249, no. 188.
Quirke, Stephen 2015. "Understanding Death: A Journey between Worlds." In Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom, edited by Adela Oppenheim, Dorothea Arnold, Dieter Arnold, and Kei Yamamoto. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 221.
Grajetzki, Wolfram 2015. "The Pharaoh's Subjects: Court and Provinces." In Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom, edited by Adela Oppenheim, Dorothea Arnold, Dieter Arnold, and Kei Yamamoto. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 123.
Lilyquist, Christine 2023. "Renseneb's Mask." In Wonderful Things: essays in honor of Nicholas Reeves, p. 156.
Art du Jeu, Jeu dans l'Art. 2012. Paris, 59 (cat. 19).
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The Met's collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 26,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from the Paleolithic to the Roman period.
