{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O100803"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O100803/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AG9862/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AG9862/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AG9862","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AG9861","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O100803/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O100803","accessionNumber":"320-1895","objectType":"Chess board","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Badly wormed oak mounted in gilt copper, set with 64 plaques of champlevé enamel decorated with alternating squares of grotesque gilded monsters and floral sprays of two basic designs. The green patina is painted. Thin strips of grooved copper retain the squares which are nailed onto the oak board. A cable pattern border with a row of minute crosses extends around the board. The 'jester-leg' feet are in the shape of the lower parts of a human leg and foot.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Marcy, Louis","id":"A13005"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":"probably"}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"oak","id":"AAT12264"},{"text":"copper","id":"AAT11020"},{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"},{"text":"enamel","id":"AAT14910"}],"techniques":[{"text":"gilding","id":"AAT53789"},{"text":"champlevé","id":"AAT53777"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Oak mounted in gilt copper with champlevé enamel","categories":[{"text":"Games","id":"THES48947"},{"text":"Fakes & forgeries","id":"THES48958"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2006AG9862","2006AG9861"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES405454"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Chess board","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"probably"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1858-1895","earliest":"1858-01-01","latest":"1895-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"5.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"19/06/2024","earliest":"2024-06-19","latest":"2024-06-19"},"part":"","note":"Foot to rim of board."},{"dimension":"Length","value":"316","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"","value":"","unit":"","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"32","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"19/06/2024","earliest":"2024-06-19","latest":"2024-06-19"},"part":"Across top edge of board.","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"32","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"19/06/2024","earliest":"2024-06-19","latest":"2024-06-19"},"part":"Across top of board.","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Acquired from Louis Marcy, London, South Kensington, in 1895.\n\nThis is one of the first \"medieval\" objects that Louis Marcy (1860-1945) offered to the South Kensington Museum (now the V&amp;A) in 1895. The design for this example is clearly inspired by the monsters and flowers on the early fourteenth-century chess board now in Aschaffenburg which had already been illustrated by Jacob von Hefner-Altenbeck and Carl Becker in 1857 (<i>Kunstwerke und Geräthschaften des Mittelalters und der Renaissance,</i> vol. 2, Frankfurt am Main: Heinrich Keller, 1857, pp.45-46, plates 62-65).\n\nAt first sight, this object - one of the most convincing and best researched associated with the Marcy workshop - shows convincing signs of age, such for example the worm-eaten wood and  the rubbed gilding. The enamelled motifs include a great variety of grotesque motifs such as animals, birds, fish and men which alternate with flower spryas in two basic designs. However, closer inspection as well as scientific analysis reveals the green patina to be chromium-based paint - not available prior to the nineteenth century, the daisy motifs not to be consistent with medieval counterparts, and their bright vivid blue unparalleled among medieval enamels. Also the feet supporting the board are unconvicing, and the designer did not take into account the that the colours of the enamelled plaques need to be contrasting for players to be able to use the board.  \n<i>\n</i>","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Chess board, gilded copper and enamel on a wooden core, France (Paris?), between 1857 and 1895","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Althöfer, Heinz and Ertz, Klaus (eds). <i>Fälschung und Forschung</i>. Exhibition Catalogue, Essen, Folkwang Museum and Berlin, Skulpturengalerie Staatliche Museen Preu&#946;ischer Kunstbesitz, Essen: Museum Folkwang: 1976, pp. 52-53, cat. no 47."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Jones, Mark (ed.). <i>Fake? The Art of Deception</i>. Exhibition Catalogue, London, British Museum, London: British Museum Publications, 1990, cat. no 196 (Marian Campbell)."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Campbell, Marian and Blair, Claude. \"'Vive le Vol'. Louis Marcy, Anarchist and Faker', in <i>Why Fakes matter. Essays on Problems of Authenticity</i>, ed. Mark Jones, London: British Museum Press, 1992, pp. 134-147."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Blair, Claude and Campbell, Marian. <i>Marcy. Oggetti d'arte della Galleria Parmeggiani di Reggio Emilia, </i>Turin: U. Allemandi, 2008, pp. 54-55, cat. E5."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Descatoire, Christine and Tixier, Frédéric (eds.).<i> Le Moyen Âge du XIX<sup>e</sup> siècle. Créations et faux dans les arts précieux</i>. Exhibition Catalogue, Paris, Musée de Cluny  - Musée national du Moyen Âge, Paris: GrandPalaisRmnÉditions, 2025, p. 203, cat. 136 (Marian Campbell)."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Campbell, Marian. 'Le système Marcy', in <i>Le Moyen Âge du XIX<sup>e</sup> siècle. Créations et faux dans les arts précieux</i>, ed. Christine Descatoire and Frédéric Tixier (eds). Exhibition Catalogue, Paris, Musée de  Cluny  - Musée national du Moyen Âge, Paris: GrandPalaisRmnÉditions, 2025, pp. 272-74, p. 272."}],"production":"Probably the work of Louis Marcy, in the Limoges/Paris style of the 1330's","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"CHESS BOARD\nEnamel.\nLate 19th century in the style of the early 14th century.\n\nThe neo-Gothic feet and the absence of any clear contrast between adjacent squares on the board are among the features distinguishing this piece from the very few authentic 14th century gaming boards. Like the casket (432-1895) also shown here, it was acquired from the dealer, Louis Marcy, with whom a large group of elaborate and very well made metalwork objects may be associated.\n320-1895","date":{"text":"Pre-2000","earliest":"2000-01-01","latest":"2000-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["320-1895"],"accessionNumberNum":"320","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1895,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-04-02","recordCreationDate":"2004-06-14","availableToBook":false}}