Travel Game Box With Hinged Flaps. 18th Century

An ingenious travel game set with hinged flaps, consisting of a wooden core covered with wallpaper.

This small set is part of the history of social life and leisure during the Age of Enlightenment. In the 18th century, games played an important role in the daily lives of Europe’s elites and the wealthy. People played in salons, social circles, and inns, but also while traveling. The rise of travel and a culture of leisure thus spurred the creation of compact objects that allowed people to carry various forms of entertainment with them.

Our box is a remarkable illustration of this ingenuity. When closed, it measures only about 12.5 × 11 cm. When opened via a series of hinged panels, it reveals several surfaces dedicated to different games: backgammon, checkers, and a lottery game, along with a mirror.

Backgammon belongs to a family of board games with very ancient origins that became widely popular in Europe. In the 18th century, board games, dice games, card games, and games of chance were an integral part of social life.
The presence of a mirror amid the playing surfaces is particularly evocative of the object’s purpose: it is no longer simply a miniaturized game board, but a true portable entertainment set, designed to accompany its owner on his travels.
Each panel thus has its own function and its own decoration.
This combination of miniaturization, a variety of games, and rich decoration makes this set a particularly captivating testament to the culture of games and travel in the late 18th century.
A travel game set of similar design is preserved in the collections of the British Museum in London.