Luxury Walnut Backgammon Set - Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat

Luxury Walnut Backgammon Set - Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat

Discover the piece this workshop is measured by. The board is cut from a single slab of walnut, and its top edge is shaped into the twin peaks of Mount Ararat, with the snow on Masis and Sis left in the pale sapwood the tree grew itself. Below the mountain, Noah comes down with his family: an old man with his arm raised, his wife beside him, sons and daughters behind, a dove overhead, animals moving out through the grass and a bare tree at the edge of the scene. Faces, hands and folds of cloth are all cut by hand, deep enough to throw real shadow.

Turn the board over and the story continues. Noah stands at the altar he built after the flood, his family gathered around it, birds circling above. Both scenes sit inside carved scrollwork with basket-weave panels, and a beaded border runs the whole way round. Open the board and the walnut field is inlaid in pale wood with a carved ornament at each end.

This is the most demanding piece in the Hrachya Ohanyan workshop, and it is made for nardi, the game as it is played in Armenia. Handmade in Armenia.

What's Included

• Folding walnut backgammon board with bronze hinges and clasps
• 32 wooden checkers with inlaid centres
• Dice set
• Carrying bag

Specifications

• Size: 60 x 60 cm / 23.6 x 23.6"
• Material: walnut, carved from one piece, with hornbeam inlay
• Motif: Noah and his family on one side, the altar and the offering on the other, under the Ararat skyline
• Handmade in Armenia

Why You'll Love It

• Two full carved scenes, one on each outer face, not a repeated pattern
• The Ararat snow is the walnut's own pale sapwood, chosen and cut, not stained
• Figure carving at this depth is the hardest thing a woodcarver does
• A board to play on, and a panel that belongs on a wall between games

The Story on the Board

The ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. For Armenians that is not a distant story: the mountain stands on the horizon south of Yerevan, and Noah's descent is the beginning of everything after. The first side of this board shows that moment, the family stepping onto dry ground with the dove above them. The second shows what Noah did next, building an altar and making his offering, when the first rainbow was set in the sky as a promise. Carving both onto a board for nardi is a very Armenian idea: the sacred belongs on the table where the family actually sits.

About the Artist

Hrachya Ohanyan is an Armenian master woodcarver who began his fine wood craft in 1985 and opened the Hrachya Ohanyan workshop in 2010. Boards cut to the contour of Masis are his signature, and this Noah set is the one his carvers spend the longest on. See the rest of his work in the Hrachya Ohanyan backgammon collection.

A Piece to Hand Down

For a landmark birthday, a wedding, a gift to a church or an institution, or the one thing you buy once and keep. Every set is made to order and shipped worldwide, insured, with our own hands packing it.