Gamespiece, pearwood and gesso, Charles V Holy Roman Emperor, by an Unknown Master (Augsburg), Germany, ca. 1530-1558

Turned pearwood gamespiece, the obverse of which depicts Charles V in coloured gesso, facing right and wearing a flat cap, and the order of the golden fleece. The reverse features turned concentric circles.

Salting Bequest

Provenance: Spitzer Collection. Frédéric Spitzer (b. 1815; d. 1890) was born in Vienna, and settled in Paris in 1852. He amassed a large collection of works of art, which were housed in l'hotel de la rue Villejust, known as the Musée Spitzer. The collection was auctioned in Paris in 1893.
Provenance: Salting Bequest. George Salting (b. 1836; d. 1909), an Australian who settled in England, bequeathed a large collection of works decorative art to the Museum in 1909.

This wooden medallion was almost certainly used as a games-piece. The depth of the turned wood border would protect the gesso portrait within during use. Games of skill such as chess and draughts with their chivalric and military associations had deep roots in patrician leisure, and Luxury boards and games-pieces became common possesions amongst the elite of Renaissance Europe. Probably produced in series, sets of such games- pieces comprised of perhaps thirty-two pieces, which have subsequently been split up and in part lost. It is likely that they were made in Augsburg in the mid-sixteenth century, copied from slightly earlier medals by Freidrich Hagenauer and others. Emminent personages such as Charles V or his brother Ferdinand are usually portrayed on this type of games-piece.

Here Charles is depicted with the Order of the Golden Fleece: the badge of the Order can be seen suspended as a pendant on his chest. Modelled on the English Order of the Garter, the Order of the Golden Fleece was restricted to a limited number of knights, initially 24 but increased to 30 in 1433 and 51 in 1516. The order was explicitly denied to "heretics", and so became an exclusively Catholic award during the Reformation, though the choice of the pagan Golden Fleece of Colchis as the symbol of a Christian order caused some controversy.

By an Unknown Master (Augsburg)

This wooden medallion depicting Charles V was almost certainly used as a games-piece. The depth of the turned wood border would protect the gesso portrait within during use. Games of skill such as chess and draughts with their chivalric and military associations had deep roots in patrician leisure, and Luxury boards and games-pieces became common possesions amongst the elite of Renaissance Europe.
Charles is depicted with the Order of the Golden Fleece: the badge of the Order can be seen suspended as a pendant on his chest.

A.513-1910