Highlights
Stately gaming table of Prince Elector Max Emanuel of Bavaria
- Artist
- –
- Locality
- Augsburg
- Date
- between 1683 and 1692
- Material
- Oak, spruce, ebony, snakewood, tortoiseshell, mother of pearl
- Dimensions
- H. 76.2 cm
- Location
- Gallery 33
- Inventory Number
- 95/58
- Acquisition
- Acquired with the support of the Freundeskreis des Bayerischen Nationalmuseums e.V., the Bayerische Vereinsbank, the Bayerische Landesbank and the Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechselbank in 1995
- Epoch
- Baroque and Rococo
Description
In the Baroque period, gaming tables were among the most important pieces of furniture in palaces and residences, as social games and gambling were an essential part of courtly amusement. Since they were set up after dinner, they were usually constructed as folding tables. Similarly, this table was built so that chess, nine men's morris or trictrac (backgammon) could be played by turning the top. Unfortunately, the folding mechanism no longer works. This particularly luxurious example was probably given by Emperor Leopold I to his son-in-law and ally Elector Max Emanuel. Both of them, along with eight other commanders of the Holy Roman Empire's war against the Ottomans in the 1680s, are depicted on the ornamental border around the playing field.
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