Gaming piece, carved walrus ivory, probably England (St Albans?), ca. 1130

A man and a woman are shown seated facing one another, their feet on a pierced dais, with a board on their knees. The man wears a low crown on his head and is seated on a throne with an animal or fish head. The couple are evidently enganged in a game of backgammon or 'tables', and lines have been incised in the board to denote the playing surface. Behind the couple are two further figures on each side who confront one another apparently in dispute, and behind them are two indeterminate structures. The border is made up of small raised circles, carved in the manner of beads. A circular hole has been drilled through the background between the border and the head of the larger standing figure on the right. There are some chips to the outer rim of the border and dscolouration at the top, due to the coarseness of the secondary dentine of the walrus ivory. The back is plain.

In the Soltykoff collection, Paris, until 1861; Soltykoff sale, Paris, 1861 (bought by Beurdeley); on loan to the museum from John Webb, London, from 1867; purchased from Webb in 1871 (£5 10s).

This piece belongs to an ensemble of over thirty stylistically related gaming pieces, usually with either beaded or channelled borders, which Goldschmidt labelled the St Martin group. This is something of a misnomer, however, as only three of the pieces show St Martin dividing his cloak with the beggar, the majority of the remaining tablemen being given over to scenes of combat. Goldschmidt tentatively assigned the group to Tournai, partly on the basis of there being a foundation dedicated to the saint in that city, but Mann preferred a Northern French origin and proposed a place of production at the abbey of Saint-Martin-aux-Jumeaux near Amiens, the supposed site at which the saint divided his cloak.

Paul Williamson, however, pointed out that the figure style of the pieces, with agular profiles, simply drawn facial features, hair depicted with parallel lines and with animated, dancing poses, is most closely paralleled by English works of about 1120-40. The calendar roundels and historiated initials of the St Albans Psalter of around 1130 are particularly close in style and some display the same type of beaded border decoration as on the tablemen. A close connection with St Martin is not necessarily of relevance for the place of production of the gaming pieces as this particular saint had widespread appeal; but it is of interest that the isolated scene of his dividing his claok with the beggar very unusally also appears on a full-page miniature in the St Albans Psalter.

The present piece may have come from the same set as three other discs in St Petersburg, Basel and Oxford, which share the same beaded borders, dimensions and figure style. Another piece in the V&A's collection (mus. no A.20-1961) may also have belonged to this set.

Round gaming pieces such as this one almost certainly belonged to sets of 'tablemen'. The game of tables, or backgammon, was popular in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, draughts only becoming established in the later Middle Ages. There were fifteen counters to each side, and twelfth-century boards inlaid with bone settings have been excavated at Gloucester and Saint- Denis. Only one full set with two sides of fifteen counters and a board, that at Gloucester, still exists, but it is clear that a great variety of subjects was carved on the discs, ranging from single animals to scenes from classical mythology.

The figure style of the pieces, with angular profiles, simply drawn facial features, hair depicted with parallel lines, and with animated, dancing poses, is most closely paralleled by English works of about 1120-1140. The calendar roundels and historical initials of the St Albans Psaltar of around 1130 are particularly close in style and some display the same type of beaded border decoration as on the tablemen. The connection with St Martin is not necessarily of relevance for the place of production as this particular saint had widespread appeal.
This piece clearly belongs to an ensemble of over thirty stylistically related gaming pieces, usually with either beaded - as here - or channelled borders. The present piece may have come from the same set of three other discs in St Petersburg, Basel and Oxford, which share the same beaded borders, dimensions and figure style.

The only medieval gamesboard to survive is for backgammon, and was found recently during excavations in Gloucester with a complete set of thirty pieces. Backgammon appears to have been a favourite game amongst the nobility and game sets were taken on the Crusades. Interest in the game may even have been stimulated at this period because of the contact with the East where it was very popular.

375-1871