King D. João V chinese games board

Superb 18th century Sino-Portuguese ebony backgammon, chess and draughts board, ornamented in delicately engraved ivory inlays.

On the backgammon face, the four quadrants of six half-moon points are divided by an elegantly waved ebony on ivory receptacle, of engraved scrolls decoration, marking the bar. In the true centre, the crossing point for the diagonal lines joining opposite vertices of the rectangle, and exuberantly defining the whole composition, the Portuguese Royal Arms sided by two herald angels. In the corners, flaming torches in-between wing shaped elements densely decorated in arabesque scrolls, resembling butterflies, in an interpretation clearly not understood by the Chinese craftsman.

                On the reverse, the chess and draughts checkered surface is framed by four asymmetric plant scroll motifs, emerging from each corner, interspersed with four eight-petalled flowers.

It is in the reign of king João V (1689-1750), “The Magnanimous”, that Portugal reaches its maximum splendour. In this period of political, economic and artistic affirmation, the Royal Arms spread out worldwide on the faces of the large gold “Dobras” designed by the artist Vieira Lusitano (1689-1773), the heaviest coins ever minted in Portugal. Simultaneously the fashion for table and board games was growing amongst European kings and queens, soon becoming a major leisure pastime for monarchs, clergy and aristocracy alike. Fond of extravagant parties and board games, the King’s consort, Maria Anna of Austria (r.1708-1750), was known for organising parties in her private apartments in which “távola” (1), backgammon, was played.

The Portuguese had established formal relations with China in the early 16th century, stimulated by the commercial exchange with local traders in such strategic outposts as Malacca, Canton or Fujian. Eventually, the permanent settlement in Macao (1554) facilitated the access to continental China, and it was through this port city that a characteristically Sino-Portuguese art production emerged. This artistic production, defined by a specific syncretism that blended techniques, styles and themes, resulted from the successful symbiosis between the two cultures.

In the context of D. João V mercantilist economy, suitable commercial and diplomatic relations were based on exchanges and contracts promoted by the King’s ambassadors. The great embassy sent in 1725 to the Chinese Emperor Yongzheng (1722-1735), it’s a good example of the prevalent international politics of ostentation and magnificence. In a letter to the King’s Secretary of State, the Ambassador Alexandre de Metelo de Sousa e Menezes refers: “I made my entry into the court in such a spectacular way that had never been seen in the whole of Asia” (2). In return the Chinese emperor offered the Portuguese king “40 chests full of the most valuable things from that empire” (3).

The iconography of this games board sustains the projection of the empire and its monarch, through the representation of the King’s Arms. The craftsman evokes a European ornamental language, adopting a minimalist yet formal style, reflecting the inability to correctly interpret the model, atypical to his own culture.

The Armorial shield depicted follows the usual pattern for D. João V’s reign, with a curvilinear arched lower border, five bezant escutcheons and a full band with seven castles. The whole composition, framed by a baroque scroll cartouche and surmounted by the four arch crown (replicating the fleurons but abdicating from the original stalks), is supported by two kneeling winged figures blowing the horn of fame.

In the development of this symbiosis between Portuguese and Chinese art, it is important to highlight the major role of engravings and print sets, major tools in the dissemination the Baroque style in the East, which would become the matrix for the international visual recognition of the “Magnanimous King”, as is evidenced by this games board produced by a Chinese artist.

The composition, most certainly copied from an engraving supplied by the client, is similar to that in Royal Band trumpet standards and drum aprons belonging to the Museu Nacional dos Coches collection (inv. IM40 and IM53), which are well identified and thoroughly researched. The Music Historian Garhard Doderer suggests that they were produced for the Royal Band, commissioned by king D. João V in 1721–1723, even though they are inscribed with the date 1761.

Ebony and ivory, the precious exotic raw materials selected for the making of this games board, originate from those faraway lands and it is possible to recognise in the chiselled incisions, similar to that of the engravers burin, distinctive local decorative elements, such as the black ink filled dots and lines (4) which, like and energetic brushstroke, are characteristic of Chinese painting.

On accounts of its quality and originality this games board is a most relevant example of successful artistic miscegenation in this “Glorious” reign.

Notes:

1 Cf. Maria Beatriz Nizza da Silva, D. João V, Lisboa, Círculo de Leitores e Centro de Estudos dos Povos e Culturas de Expressão Portuguesa, 2006, pp. 30 e 126 — This historian suggests that the game “távola” must refer to “gamão”, or backgammon in England, “tric-trac” in  France, “tablas reales” in Spain and “tavola reale” in Italy.

2 Maria Beatriz Nizza da Silva, D. João V, Lisboa, Circulo de Leitores e Centro de Estudos dos Povos e Culturas de Expressão Portuguesa, 2006, p. 281.

3 IDEM, Ibidem.

4 In Portugal these incisions were filled in darkened paste – bees wax coloured with iron gall ink — Cf: Fernanda Castro Freire, Mobiliário II, F.R.E.S.S., 2002, p. 43.