Luxurious Armenian Backgammon Set - Dance of Sassoun and Ararat

Luxurious Armenian Backgammon Set - Dance of Sassoun and Ararat

The dance comes at the end of the epic, and that is the whole meaning of it. The heroes of Sassoun fight, lose people, hold the mountain — and then they dance. Here that moment is laid into a handmade backgammon board in wood inlay, figures and landscape worked in contrasting timber, with the workshop's own Mount Ararat outline behind them. It is a hard thing to put on a board and an easy thing to recognise if you grew up with the story.

Underneath the subject it is a serious Armenian backgammon set. A full 23.6" / 60 cm playing field with room for a long evening of nardi, a smooth finish that takes years of checkers being slid across it, and inlay rather than print — every element cut from real wood and fitted into the surface, which is slower and far less forgiving than any other way of getting a picture onto a board.

Every model from this workshop passes through fourteen separate stages and as long as two hundred days of work, a different craftsman at each one. On a piece carrying an epic, that is not decoration for its own sake. It is the reason the figures still read as people rather than shapes.

What's Included

• Hand-inlaid backgammon board
• Playing pieces and dice
• Gift-ready presentation

Specifications

• Playing field: 23.6 x 23.6" / 60 x 60 cm
• Decorative wood inlay throughout
• Mount Ararat outline
• Made in Armenia by Hrachya Ohanyan

Why You'll Love It

• The Dance of Sassoun worked in wood inlay, figures and landscape both
• The workshop's own Ararat outline, on no other maker's board
• Full 23.6" / 60 cm field — a real playing surface, not a display panel
• Made by the workshop of National Master Hrachya Ohanyan

The Dance of Sassoun

Sassoun is where the Armenian epic lives — four generations of heroes, David among them, defending a mountain country against everything sent at it. The dance is what survives the fighting: arms linked, a circle, the same steps done at weddings today. Putting it on a board that families sit around is about as direct as symbolism gets. You survive, and then you dance about it.

A Gift Worth Giving

For a father, a grandfather, a wedding, a house that has just been bought. Backgammon gets played far more often than anything else you could give, and this one carries the epic to the table every time it comes out.