Grünes Gewölbe: Spielkultur

Diese Abbildung zeigt ein Brettspiel aus Holz. Es ist mit kunstvollen Einlegearbeiten versehen.

Research: Board game culture

Board games such as draughts, chess, nine men’s morris, and trictrac were an integral part of courtly culture during the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

They were not only entertaining and sociable pastimes but also promoted the development of tactical skills and logical thinking. These were vital qualities for the rulers of a territory. Chess, which can be traced back to the sixth century, played a particularly important role because it was regarded as a simplified replication of a real battle situation. Today, the Grünes Gewölbe houses a particularly splendid chess set from the time of August the Strong. In the early sixteenth century, board game boxes made of precious materials increasingly found their way into the art and curiosity cabinets of European courts.

Hier ist ein kunstvoll gearbeitetes Schachspiel zu sehen. Das Schachbrett ist in türkise und braune Spielfelder unterteilt. Die Figuren sind kunstvoll aus hellem Elfenbein und dunklem Ebenholz geschnitzt. — **Chess game, chessboard box probably Augsburg, c.1705–1709, On permanent loan from the Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation**

They were usually made of amber, precious metals, or non-European natural materials such as ivory, tortoiseshell, and mother-of-pearl. Especially notable are the ornately decorated board game boxes from the West Bohemian town of Cheb (formerly Eger). From the 1630s onwards, craftsmen there used different coloured woods to create elaborate relief intarsia work. However, the good state of preservation of many of these games suggests that they were not actually used; instead, simpler boards were employed, as can be seen in an engraving by Jacob van der Heyden from 1616.