Luxury Armenian Chess Backgammon Set with Tree of Life

Luxury Armenian Chess Backgammon Set with Tree of Life

The surface is carved all over in a quilted diamond pattern, edge to edge, with scalloped borders and a cast-bronze Tree of Life set into the frame at each end. That symbol has been cut into Armenian stone and wood for more than a thousand years, and here it does something practical as well as beautiful — it tells you which way round the board goes before you have thought about it.

On top, a full chess game with figural cast-metal armies: medieval warriors and knights, gold facing dark bronze, spears and shields worked into pieces that are sculpted rather than turned. Open the case and there is a second game underneath — a backgammon layout with its checkers and dice. A chess backgammon set like this covers whatever the room wants to play, and at 15.7" / 40 cm folding to half that, it comes to the room rather than waiting at home.

What's Included

• Folding chess and backgammon board
• 32 figural cast-metal chess pieces, gold against dark bronze
• 30 wooden checkers and a pair of dice
• Carrying bag

Specifications

• Open board: 15.7 x 15.7" / 40 x 40 cm
• Folded: 15.7 x 7.9" / 40 x 20 cm
• Weight: 4 kg / 8.8 lb
• Material: solid beech wood with bronze inlays and cast-metal pieces
• Handmade in Armenia

Why You'll Love It

• Two games in one case — chess on top, backgammon within
• Cast-bronze Tree of Life set into the frame at both ends
• Quilted diamond carving worked across the whole surface
• Figural metal armies with real weight, gold against dark bronze

The Tree of Life

Roots, trunk, branches and fruit read as one unbroken line — which is the whole point of it. Armenians have carved this tree onto khachkars, doorframes and dowry chests for a millennium as a way of saying that a family is one continuous thing, not a series of separate people. Putting it on a board where two generations sit down facing each other is about as apt as a symbol gets.

A Gift Worth Giving

Two games, an Armenian symbol and a metal army — this covers the chess player, the backgammon player and the person who just likes beautiful objects, which is usually three different members of the same family.