Existing comment:
Chess and tric-trac game board
second half 16th century or later
German
Game boards for playing chess, backgammon, and tric-trac (an early French variant of backgammon) served as diplomatic gifts and Kunstkammer display objects. Chess was integral to the instruction of potential rulers, as it helped develop the strategic thinking necessary on the battlefield. The game of goose, in which dice-throwing contestants raced to the center of the board while trying to avoid landing on certain symbols, was popular at the Medici court in Florence. This goose game board, designed after an Italian print and made by artisans in Gujarat for the European market, is the earliest known example in wood. |