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Board games including chess, checkers, and backgammon became increasingly popular in Europe during the later Middle Ages. Chess had been brought back by crusading knights from the Near East. Small boards, such as this on the underside of a box in which the game counters or pieces were kept, may have been made for traveling. The box is decorated with scenes of dancing and hunting on the top and sides.
Medieval European
H: 2 1/2 x W: 6 1/16 x D: 7 5/16 in. (6.3 x 15.4 x 18.5 cm)
medium: bone, wood (beech), and iron fittings
style: Gothic
culture: Medieval European
by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
Primarily a painter and draftsman, Albrecht Altdorfer made only nine etchings, which were intended to imitate his drawings. Those he made between 1522 and 1525—printed in very small numbers for a growing market of print collector—are considered the first prints in European art to depict pure landscape without narrative or devotional content. Here, he displayed remarkable freedom of draftsmanship and apparent spontaneity. The site depicted cannot be readily identified, <br>and Altdorfer probably composed it from his imagination. Early etchings, such as this one, were made on iron rather than copper plates, which rendered the lines slightly hazy.
Germany, 16th century
etching
Platemark: 11.8 x 16.3 cm (4 5/8 x 6 7/16 in.); Sheet: 11.8 x 16.3 cm (4 5/8 x 6 7/16 in.)
Did you know...
To make this early etching, the artist used an iron plate rather than the more supple copper, which would shortly come to dominate etching technique.
John L. Severance Fund