Page 16 - 2021 April 1, ART OF THE ISLAMIC AND Indian Worlds Including Oriental Rugs, Christie's London

~†9
A LARGE CERTOSINA WOOD AND IVORY-INLAID GAMES
BOARD
EMBRIACHI WORKSHOP, VENICE, ITALY, 15TH-EARLY 16TH
CENTURY
Composed of two rectangular sections hinged together, the exterior of the box
with a chess board, the alternate squares in ivory with panels decorated alla
certosina with natural and green-stained ivory, a band of similar decoration
flanking each side of the board, the border with alternating wood and ivory
panels each containing a small rosette; the interior with a backgammon board,
the points in alternating natural and green-stained ivory, a central wide panel
decorated alla certosina with natural and green-stained ivory, the border with
a geometric inlaid design, the white metal hinges cast and chased with four In addition to its use in a religious context, the technique was employed
portraits in profile within roundels, minor losses to inlay, overall good condition on secular objects, including games boards. Nasrid examples are in the
31¡ x 22√in. (79.7 x 58.1cm.) Alhambra museum and display comparable eight-pointed interlaced star
motifs as found on the present board. Another Nasrid games board that sold
£80,000-120,000 US$120,000-170,000
€94,000-140,000 at Sotheby’s, London, 24 October 2007, lot 158, similarly shows the intricate
inlay work in the form of stars on the chess side on the board. That example
Both backgammon and chess were popular in the Islamic world and were also revealed another development in the technique where medieval printed
introduced into the Iberian peninsula in the 10th century. The Libro de los parchment was introduced across the surface as an underlay to improve the
Juegos (Book of Games), a manuscript commissioned by Alfonso X in 1283 adhesion of the mosaic in the fifteenth century.
and now in the library of the Escorial, includes many colour illustrations of
Possibly via the markets in Mediterranean Spain, the technique was
chess including the versions imported from the Arab kingdoms. Many of the
introduced in Italy and is found adorning portable objects such as caskets
illustrations depict parties engaged in chess on boards of similar form to the
and shrines as early as the fourteenth century. An early Venetian games
present example (Jaime I, Rey y Caballero, Valencia, 2008, ms. T.1.6, no. 94,
board in the Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna (inv.no.168) which is dated to
pp. 202-03).
the first half of the fourteenth century displays comparable eight-pointed star
The taracea technique, (from the Arabic ‘tarsi’, for incrustation) uses tiny motifs to those used here and clearly shows the influence of Spanish motifs
geometric tesserae of different-coloured woods and ivory or bone (both in within Italian production.
its natural colour or stained) assembled to create intricate, kaleidoscopic
In the fifteenth century, the technique became associated with the Embriachi
patterns. The technique developed from highly specialised workshops in
workshop (Paula Nuttall, “The Bargello Gamesboard: a North-South Hybrid.”
Umayyad Spain and North Africa, and appeared in the minbar of the Great
The Burlington Magazine, vol. 152, no.1292, 2010, pp.716–722.,p.720). The
Mosque of Cordoba on its enlargement under al-Hakim II in the tenth
workshop originated in Florence around 1370 and was funded by Baldassare
century. Caliphal marquetry workshops continued to execute grand courtly
Embriachi, a member of a Florentine noble family. However, by 1395, his
commissions under the Almoravids and the Almohads in a religious setting
political and financial circumstances forced the workshop to transfer to
and contributed to the splendour of the minbars in the Qarawiyyin mosque
Venice where they employed specialised workers to produce inlaid works
in Fez and those of the Kutubiyya and the Qasba mosques in Marrakech
using the taracea technique, where it came to be known as certosina.
(Dodds, Al-Andalus, The Art of Islamic Spain, New York, 1992, no. 118, pp.
372-73). The technique was also used to adorn luxurious objects in Nasrid Not only did they apply the technique of Spanish craftsmen, the Italian
Spain, see, for example, a lavishly decorated pyxis sold in these Rooms, 28 workshops also frequently tried to reproduce the designs of the Spanish
October 2020, lot 20..
O c t o b e r 2 0 2 0 , l o t 2 0 originals, although they are often less intricate, yet more precise, opting for
bolder more geometric forms that delight in perspectival play (Nuttall, op.
cit., p.721). The kaleidoscopic panels of interlacing stars are clearly derived
from Spanish motifs. However, this is coupled with a three-dimensional
effect created within the borders of the backgammon side. This perspectival
effect recalls the Italianate cube design on a further fifteenth century games
box produced by the Embriachi workshop in the Kunsthistoriches Museum,
Vienna (see Nuttall, op. cit., p.720, fig.13), and another Venetian example
in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc.no. 2010.109.4). Both of these
examples, like ours, also show a higher proportion of green-stained ivory than
their Spanish counterparts.
The hinges mounted on this games board also suggest an Italian place of
manufacture. The roundels with profile portraits in relief bear resemblance to
portrait medals that were first produced in Italy in the fifteenth century and
modelled on Roman coins. The format was also employed in Renaissance
architecture in Italy such as on the Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan (Georgia
Clarke, “Architecture, Languages and Style in Fifteenth-Century Italy” Journal
of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, vol. 71, 2008, pp.169–189, fig.6).
The confronting portraits here are an effective indicator of the competition
between the two opponents.
One of only a handful of fifteenth century examples surviving, this games
board clearly embodies the strong influence and desirability of Hispano-
Islamic taracea works. Already serving as an appropriate form of decoration
on grand monuments and courtly objects in Spain, the intricate technique
and elaborate designs were similarly considered worthy of luxurious objects
in Italy.
14 In addition to the hammer price, a Buyer’s Premium (plus VAT) is payable. Other taxes and/or an Artist Resale Royalty
fee are also payable if the lot has a tax or λ symbol. Check Section D of the Conditions of Sale at the back of this catalogue.