Board games from the city of Vijayanagara (Hampi ... - Gioco dell'Oca.

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B OARD G AME S TUDIES 6, 2003
state and a wise reign; but also in the interpretation of chess as a reflection of war, with
an army of soldiers and officers under the command of the king. Games tables were not
only pieces of utility furniture, many of them were representative and not for use and
served as bearers of symbols of power. Considering the connotation of chess with war,
it seems rather logical that games tables for chess were combined with allegories of war.
One very splendid example is a “games table with chained-up Turks” in the Residence
in Munich (plates 1 and 1a [detail]). The tabletop is from Augsburg, and dates from
around 1670. The underframe was made in Munich around 1690. The table consists of
a tabletop with rich marquetry and an underframe with carved sculptures, which was
made later than the tabletop, but most certainly directly planned as an underframe for
this tabletop. The frame of the tabletop contains a board for chess/draughts and
backgammon. The tabletop is supported by silver- and goldplated statues, at the two
sides by two chained-up Turks, and in the middle by two eagles and various war trophies.
The tabletop itself is decorated with rich marquetry on a ground of ebony and shows
ornaments as well as exotic and native animals, birds, insects and flowers. Only the cartouche
in the middle depicts war trophies.
One long side of the frame is divided into two halves, one being a drawer. The other
half can be opened by spring pressure like a flap and reveals two compartments which pull
out. One is a draughts/chess and backgammon board, the other is a tray for draughtsmen
and chess pieces. Once pulled out completely, the chess/backgammon board can be used
for playing. Inlaid on a ground of Macassar ebony is a field for backgammon made of of
tortoiseshell and mother-of-pearl with ivory veins, the middle of this board contains a
rhombic board for chess or draughts, inlaid with tortoiseshell and mother-of-pearl; each
triangle is adorned by an inlaid animal of engraved mother-of-pearl: in the tortoiseshell
spaces we find birds, in the other fields various animals from hares to deers. The triangles
of the backgammon-board are shaped like obelisks, with turned peaks and curves. The war
trophies allude to the fight of the electoral prince of Bavaria, Max Emanuel, on the side
of Austria against the Turks. In this war, Max Emanuel had the only victories of his whole
political life, in the years from 1683 to 1688.
The tabletop was made earlier than the frame with its war symbols, already in the
times of Max Emanuel’s father, Ferdinand Maria. The frame was made in the studio of
the court cabinet-makers in Munich, directly as part of the tabletop. At the time, it was
not unusual that precious tabletops or other parts of furniture were ordered and made
in the area which specialised in certain materials, and were then completed in the court’s
workshops. Only the war trophies on the underframe allude directly to a particular war,
the trophies on the tabletop are rather general but prove that war allegories were combined
with representative games tables. This table may seem an exception, but there are
a few more examples which combine games with war reminicences as well.
A games table for chess, morris and backgammon in the Bavarian National Museum
in Munich, top made in Augsburg, 1683/92, alludes to the same war, and most certainly
was the property of Max Emanuel as well (plates 2 and 3). The table is rectangular and
has a curved underframe which used to be foldable. The middle part of the tabletop can
be turned up, on the underside are fields in marquetry for chess and morris, and in the