An ebony and ivory inlaid and rosewood veneered Dresden games board.
Including 15 ivory and 15 ebony turned rose-shaped gaming pieces. The interior with a backgammon board intricately inlaid with ivory scrolls. A Nine Man Morris to the back of the exterior. To the upper side a chess board with a frame decorated with porcelain plaques depicting Dresden views and the coat of arms of the Heneage family as well as a detail of the Schokoladenmädchen by Liotard and of the Sistine Madonna by Raphael. The chequered board decorated with daguerrotype portraits and inlaid coat of arms, among others the Barons Schleinitz and the Barons Feilitzsch. Some cracks to the ivory, chips to the corners and four daguerrotypes lost. 42.5 x 42.5 x 6.9 and 85 x 42.5 cm when opened.
Probably a unique commission of the 1860s to 1870s, the porcelain most likely Meissen. It has been suggested that the interior is earlier, perhaps c. 1600, and reworked in the 19th century.
It has been proposed that the backgammon board is originally 16th century and was ammended in the 19th century.
Provenance
Purchased from Sotheby´s London on 8th July 2005, lot 51.
Literature
On this type, cf. the late 16th / early 17th century games coffers in the Rüstkammer Dresden (cat.: Die kurfürstlich-sächsische Kunstkammer in Dresden. Das Inventar von 1619, Dresden 2010, fol. 109 v - 110 r, illus. 34 f.)