Chinese Stone Chess Board

A grid scratched into the top, worn soft by time, and still ready for the next move.

This chess board comes from Hebei Province, China, and is carved from stone. Stone game boards for Go and xiangqi, Chinese chess, have long been set out in courtyards and gardens, where they can survive weather that would ruin wood. Here a thick square slab is incised with a fine grid of lines across the top, now faint and weathered. The stone is a mottled yellow-green. A molded edge runs around the sides above four short, squared feet. It is 16.5 inches wide, 16.5 deep and 3.5 high.

Built for a long game, and it has clearly seen a few.