AN ANGLO-INDIAN IVORY AND HORN GAMES BOARD
Lot 387

AN ANGLO-INDIAN IVORY AND HORN GAMES BOARD

VIZAGAPATAM, MID-19TH CENTURY

Closed3 July 2012

Price Realised

GBP 3,000

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AN ANGLO-INDIAN IVORY AND HORN GAMES BOARD
VIZAGAPATAM, MID-19TH CENTURY
In the form of a folding book, with engraved stained border and spine, the interior of inlaid sandalwood, three internal boxes, possibly associated, fitted with an ivory and horn chess set - kings 4 1/8 in. (10.5 cm.) high; and thirty two backgammon pieces
Shut -- 18 1/8 in. (46 cm.) wide; 10¼ in. (26 cm.) deep; 3½ in. (9 cm.) high

Specialist note

Cf. Amin Jaffer, Furniture From British India and Ceylon, V&A Publications 2001, p. 209, fig. 53 for a comparable folding games box.
The earliest documented games board from Vizagapatam are those bought by Lady Clive during her 1801 visit to India, now at Powis Castle. The Vizagapatam games boards followed a standard pattern, the veneers typically ivory contrasting with horn, ebony or tortoiseshell, laid on a sandalwood carcass. These boards would have generally contained three other conforming boxes, containing chess and backgammon pieces.