Wooden games box, with bone, dyed wood and bone and ebony incrustations. Embriachi workshop. Venice. Italy. 15th ...

Wooden games box, with bone, dyed wood and bone and ebony incrustations. Embriachi workshop. Venice. Italy. 15th century.
The box is topped with a zigzag frieze along the length of the whole edge, and the same decoration frames the ornamentation on the lid.
The upper lid has a chessboard in the centre, delineated by a strip of green-dyed bone. On both sides are different borders, some interlaced and others in a zig-zag, which is classic "intarsiata" decoration.
The body of the box is also covered with “intarsiata” decoration on its four sides.
This is a beautiful example and it is in a magnificent state of preservation.
The contours of the interiors of the box, both of the lid and the lower part, are edged with a strip of what seems to be horn.
Its original hinges are preserved, as well as the red silk in the central part of the inside of the lid and in the lower part is linen of the period that reinforces the join between the base and the sides.
The wooden contour of the base is posterior and the one at the top edge might also be. The hypothesis could be that both were originally made of bone, which was more typical in this type of box. On first impression we though that this was a mudejar Spanish example, but the characteristic work from the Embriachi workshops seem to us to be perfectly represented in this beautiful games box.
8 x 22,5 x 15 cm.
Bibliography: "Marfiles Medievales del Islam" (Medieval Islamic ivory) by Ángel Galán y Galindo. Tome II pages. 481 - 485 Caja Sur Publicaciones.