Partly carved, with marquetry of various woods, Switzerland, 1580-1600

Wood, partly carved and partly decorated with marquetry of walnut, sycamore, pearwood, Hungarian ash, and stained holly. It bears the arms of Wattenwyl (Watteville).

The outer surface of one leaf is arranged for chess, and the other for alquerque, each being surrounded by an inlaid border of arabesques. The inner surface of each leaf is arranged for backgammon; the points are separated by floral sprays, while dividing them in the middle are three cartouches, the centre one bearing the arms of Wattenwyl in one case and a skull in the other. Each is surrounded by an applied carved border of masks and renaissance scrollwork, with an egg and tongue moulding. The iron hinges are of baluster form.

Bought for £19. 17s. 3d from Sir H. Angst, K.C.M.G., British Consulate General, Zurich, Switzerland on 17th February 1908.
Condition 'Warped; rubbed. Portions of applied ornament missing.'
Attribution; Swiss, late 16th century

Museum files:
MA/1/A633 Angst, Sir Henry
RP 1908/14
RP 1908/806
RP 1908/1082
See p159 attached for further remarks.

Proposed by A.B. Skinner and T.A. Lehfeldt (23/12/1907) in the museum's assessment of V&A: 75-1908, panelling from a room dated 1493 from a house at Uerikon (a suburb of Zurich), as one of a group of items on offer from Sir Henry Angst to furnish the room. The group included ceramic tiles and vessels, a piece of sculpture and a piece of embroidery, a metal latch, as well as fourteen piece of furniture), acquired as museum nos. 76 to 105-1908, and 131-1908.

Heraldic Badges
The backgammon board indeed bears the coat of arms of the von Wattenwyl family. According to the grant of arms from Emperor Frederick III (18 October 1453) to Niklaus von Wattenwyl, the family coat of arms would be blazoned as follows: Argent, three red wings. From the beginning, however, the von Wattenwyl reversed the tinctures, so that the coat of arms is Gules, three wings in pile argent. This may have been due to the already existing very similar coat of arms of the von Holte family.
Information provided (2020) by Dr. Christian Weiss, Kurator Numismatik & Siegel, Schweizerisches Nationalmuseum, Zurich

On the history of the game of alquerque see:

Murray (op. cit.), p.98 ff

Wim van Mourik, Meer Alquerque-12 afbeeldingen geven minder zekerheid! in Het Damspel, issue 1 of March 2014, p. 22-23

Other alquerque boards
Germanisches National Museum Nurnberg. See: Glonegger, Erwin, Das Spiele-buch, 1988. 157
Danish National Museum.

The alquerque board which may have originated in Asia, is used for a variety of hunt games for two people such as the Spanish De cercar la liebre ('catch the hare') in which a hare plays against 12 hunterss who must enclose the hare so that it cannot either take a hunter or move (Murray p.99). In Europe from the 16th century hunt games were transferred from lined boards to the chequered chess-board, making this board a rare, late example.

96-1908