Eger , Game box with chess and backgammon

Eger , 17th century Game box with chess and backgammon

Provenance: Lothar Schmid (1928-2013), German chess Grandmaster
Literature: publications World of Art: Art chamber games by the Kunsthistoriches Museum in Vienna

Double-sided game box : one side shows a bas-relief depicting the meeting of Aeneas and Dido, accompanied by a Putto. The other side features a chessboard in finely executed marquetry. The interior reveals an elegant backgammon board decorated with double-tailed dolphins. Eger, a Bohemian Free City (now Cheb, Czech Republic), was well known in the 17th century for a specialised type of woodworking, particularly for intarsia panels. This set belonged to Lothar Schmid, the German chess Grandmaster and collector of chess books, boards and pieces. He is best known as the chief arbiter of the World Championship of chess in 1972 between Bobby Fisher and Boris Spassky in Reykjavik.