Pegs And Holes At The Museum Of Fine Art

The object that I chose to study is a board for the game of “Pegs and Holes,” which I found at the Museum of Fine Arts. The game board dates to 2000-1500 C.E. and is from the Levant region in the Near East. The object itself is a stone board with multiple holes carved into the top. The pegs seen in the museum are reproductions of what would have originally been ivory pieces. Played by two people, the game’s objective seems to have been for a player to race their pegs through the holes and seize all their opponent’s pieces. This object embodies the idea that the people of the Near East and Mediterranean worlds shared a need to incorporate recreational activities, such as board games, into their everyday lives as a form of social interaction.
Board games were not constrained by the need for a specific material, so a game of Pegs and Holes could be made with whatever goods were on hand. It is likely that even a nonpermanent version of the game could have been made if the players traced the design of the board on the ground. In choosing stone, the object’s creator consciously decided to use a permanent material that would take time to carve and that would have cost more than its less durable counterparts. While limestone would have been more expensive than tracing the game board on the ground, it certainly was not considered a luxury material in the Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds. If it was truly meant to display wealth, a costlier material, such as metal or semi-precious stone could have been used instead. For this reason, it is likely that the Pegs and Holes board found at the Museum of Fine Arts would have been used as a functional object. It seems to have been used for actual play. Additionally, the board itself gives no attention to aesthetics. It was left undecorated and more importantly, the holes were not spaced at equal distances from one another. An object that was intended to be a marker of prestige would have been made more carefully and likely would have been decorated with extra embellishments to further increase its value. On the other hand, the pegs were made of ivory and decorated. Both
It’s ability to transcend cultures demonstrates the idea that people from vastly different areas have a need for enjoyment and recreation in their lives. If these societies did not have a similar need for leisure activities, it would have been much more difficult for the game to entrench itself in a variety of cultures. In fact, some scholars believe that board games were used to promote social interaction between different cultures. One way that this was done was by decorating the games in International Style, motifs common to both Aegean and Near Eastern peoples. This can be seen on the Pegs and Holes game found at the Museum of Fine Arts. The dogs and horses that decorate the pegs are reminiscent of hunting motifs, which were a common theme in art through the Mediterranean and Near East. Additionally, ancient board games can be found at points of interaction between two societies. For instance, the four examples of Bronze Age board games on Cyprus have been found in large coastal communities, where natives of the island were most likely to come into contact with traveling traders. Of course, there is also the obvious fact that many times games can be played without having to contend with a language barrier. No matter the reason, being able to engage in something that both parties are