Lot Essay
A closely related chess-set and board in the Philadelphia Museum is illustrated in V. Keats' Chessmen for Collectors, London, 1983, p. 38, figs. 28-29.
Ivory-veneered games-boxes survive in the Clive Collection at Powis Castle; while visiting Vizagapatam in 1801 Henrietta Clive wrote that she had seen people 'inlaying the ivory' and that 'they draw the pattern..they inted with a pencil and then cut it out slightly with a small piece of Iron, they afterwards put hot Lac upon it, and when it is dry scrape it off and polish it.' (see: J. Marsden, Treasures from India, Rugby, 1978, p. 84.
A closely related gaming-board was sold in these rooms, 4 July 1991, lot 19.
Ivory-veneered games-boxes survive in the Clive Collection at Powis Castle; while visiting Vizagapatam in 1801 Henrietta Clive wrote that she had seen people 'inlaying the ivory' and that 'they draw the pattern..they inted with a pencil and then cut it out slightly with a small piece of Iron, they afterwards put hot Lac upon it, and when it is dry scrape it off and polish it.' (see: J. Marsden, Treasures from India, Rugby, 1978, p. 84.
A closely related gaming-board was sold in these rooms, 4 July 1991, lot 19.