The Game of Chinese Chess
1741–63
Medium
Etching and engraving
Dimensions
sheet: 8 11/16 x 5 11/16 in. (22 x 14.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1953
Accession Number
53.600.1020(6)
Tags
Art Historical Context
"The Game of Chinese Chess" is a delicate etching and engraving created between 1741 and 1763 after a design by the celebrated French Rococo artist François Boucher, with the print executed by John Ingram. Measuring just over eight by five inches, this intimate work captures a playful scene of boys and women gathered around a chessboard, reflecting the 18th-century European fascination with Chinoiserie—the romanticized interpretation of Chinese culture and motifs. Boucher’s lighthearted compositions often blended exotic themes with graceful figures and elegant settings, appealing to aristocra...