Game Board for Chess and Backgammon
c. 1700
Medium
Walnut and colored maple with fruitwood and boxwood inlay
Dimensions
44.1 × 44.5 cm (17 3/8 × 17 1/2 in.)
Classification
wood
Department
Applied Arts of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
109536
Art Historical Context
Step into the refined world of early 18th-century European leisure with this exquisite *Game Board for Chess and Backgammon* Johann Nicolaus Haberst, crafted around 1700. Measuring a compact 44.1 × 44.5 cm, this square walnut panel is a masterpiece of reversible design, featuring one side for chess and the other for backgam—two enduring games favored by nobility and intellectuals alike. Haberstumpf's skill shines in the intricate inlay technique, where colored maple, fruitwood, boxwood are precisely cut and fitted into the walnut base to form decorative patterns. This marquetry method, popula...