Collection online
The Royal Game of Ur
-
Object type
Museum number
120834
-
Title (series)
- The Royal Game of Ur
-
Description
Game-board; wooden; the face is of 20 variously inlaid square shell plaques; edges made of small plaques and strips, some sculptured with an eye and some possibly with rosettes; on the back are three lines of shell triangular ornamental inlays.
-
Culture/period
-
Date
- 2600BC-2400BC
-
Production place
- Made in: Iraq
- (Asia,Middle East,Iraq)
-
Findspot
- Excavated/Findspot: Royal Cemetery
- (Asia,Iraq,South Iraq,Royal Cemetery (Ur))
-
Materials
-
Technique
-
Dimensions
- Height: 2.4 centimetres
- Width: 11 centimetres
- Length: 30.1 centimetres
- Width: 5.7 centimetres (narrow part of b)
-
Curator's comments
Circumstances of discovery and consolidation in the field described by Woolley (and quoted by Grunfeld) as follows: "The board lay face upwards in the soil. With the decay of the wood the whole of the encrustation of the upper surface had sunk down into the void so left, while the strip-work along the sides remained sticking up above it; this collapse had resulted in the dislocation of much of the fine mosaic border, and the regularity of the surface was disturbed, the shell squares often lying at an angle and the lapis strips overlapping them; further, the end of the larger section had been broken and the three last plaques (all except the corner of that on the left, which was still attached) and the right-hand plaque of the next row lay separated from each other and half an inch or more away from the main board, and the border and edging here had been scattered. It was this broken end that we found first and probably some pieces of the strip edging were overlooked by us; when the presence of the object was recognized we worked along it a square or so at a time, pouring hot wax over it as we went, and finally the whole was secured with waxed cloth and lifted. It has not been taken to pieces and remade. The inside was cleaned and covered with waxed muslin and the cloth and wax removed from the face and then it was placed face downwards on a sheet of glass and by applying heat we were able to push the component parts down into their places; the three loose plaques were replaced in the order in which they were found, but nothing was done to restore the missing part of the border and edging. The red and blue spots inlaid in the shell plaques and petals of the flowers were loose in their sockets when found, but were fixed by the wax poured over them and very few of them have been disturbed and replaced [n. A few floated up in the liquid wax but could be at once pushed down into their holes]". The object was reconstructed by the WAA conservator I G Tremayne following sagging through a build-up of intense heat in the gallery (Report to Trustees 5 July 1961).Various replica versions, more or less based on the original, have been made and marketed, for instance by BMCompany and Ludibundus (Christmas 1980 sale catalogue).
-
Bibliography
-
Location
On display: G56/dc16
-
Exhibition history
Exhibited:
2014-2015 13 Dec-15 Mar, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
2014 23 Apr-01 Aug, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
2012-2013 28 Nov-18 Mar, Paris, Musee National du Moyen Age, 'Jeux de la Babylone antique a l'occident medieval'
2006 Jul, BM, Gallery 3 'The Royal Game of Ur'
2003 5 May-17 Aug, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 'Art of the First Cities'
1991 9 Mar-7 May, Japan, Osaka, National Museum of Art, Treasures of the British Museum, cat. no.14
1991 5 Jan-20 Feb, Japan, Yamaguchi, Prefectural Museum of Art, Treasures of the British Museum, cat. no.14
1990 20 Oct-9 Dec, Japan, Tokyo, Setagaya Art Museum, Treasures of the British Museum, cat. no.14G56/Early Mesopotamia gallery/case 16.
Babylonian Room
-
Subjects
-
Acquisition name
-
Acquisition date
1928
-
Acquisition notes
Objects allotted to the British Museum from the Ur excavations, season 1926-1927.
-
Department
Middle East
-
BM/Big number
120834
-
Registration number
1928,1009.378
-
Additional IDs
- U.9000 (excavation number)
Feedback
If you’ve noticed a mistake or have any further information about this object, please email: collectiondatabase@britishmuseum.org
View open data for this object with SPARQL endpoint
Object reference number: WCO24357
British Museum collection data is also available in the W3C open data standard, RDF, allowing it to join and relate to a growing body of linked data published by organisations around the world.
Support the Museum:
donate online
The Museum makes its collection database available to be used by scholars around the world. Donations will help support curatorial, documentation and digitisation projects.
About the database
The British Museum collection database is a work in progress. New records, updates and images are added every week.
Supporters
Work on this database is supported by a range of sponsors, donors and volunteers.



