A rare English Regency period Pope Joan game, circa 1820, a hand painted and decorated wooden bowl that turns on a pedestal base.
It has nine compartments (eight sections around a central circular compartment), the rim of the bowl embellished with small decorative cards featuring playing cards and three labeled ‘Game’, ‘Intrigue’ and ‘Matrimony’, alternating with hand-painted decoration. (See below for a description of the compartments). Coloured bone gaming chips fill the compartments.
It is an extremely eye-catching and scarce decorative antique and in lovely condition for its age and use. Some surface wear and retouching to hand painting.
25cm diameter
6cm high
Please contact me to buy
POPE JOAN
The game is thought to have its origins in the 16th century game of Hoc. It became a popular parlour game in the 18th century, adopting its peculiar name possibly from a corruption of the name ’Nain Jaune’, a similar French game from that period, Pope Joan being the alleged 9th century female pope.
The game is played by up to eight players using a 52 card pack with the 8D removed and a staking board such as this one with eight compartments labelled Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Pope (which is the 9D), Matrimony (trump King & Queen), Intrigue (trump Queen & Jack) and Game (for holding the prize pool).
In a very simplified description of the game, players play ascending cards claiming the chips from their matching compartments on the board. Trump cards are also involved and there are opportunities for winning extra chips by playing sequences of cards with the first person to play all their cards being the winner of that round.
A rare English Regency period Pope Joan game, circa 1820, a hand painted and decorated wooden bowl that turns on a pedestal base.
It has nine compartments (eight sections around a central circular compartment), the rim of the bowl embellished with small decorative cards featuring playing cards and three labeled ‘Game’, ‘Intrigue’ and ‘Matrimony’, alternating with hand-painted decoration. (See below for a description of the compartments). Coloured bone gaming chips fill the compartments.
It is an extremely eye-catching and scarce decorative antique and in lovely condition for its age and use. Some surface wear and retouching to hand painting.
25cm diameter
6cm high
Please contact me to buy
POPE JOAN
The game is thought to have its origins in the 16th century game of Hoc. It became a popular parlour game in the 18th century, adopting its peculiar name possibly from a corruption of the name ’Nain Jaune’, a similar French game from that period, Pope Joan being the alleged 9th century female pope.
The game is played by up to eight players using a 52 card pack with the 8D removed and a staking board such as this one with eight compartments labelled Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Pope (which is the 9D), Matrimony (trump King & Queen), Intrigue (trump Queen & Jack) and Game (for holding the prize pool).
In a very simplified description of the game, players play ascending cards claiming the chips from their matching compartments on the board. Trump cards are also involved and there are opportunities for winning extra chips by playing sequences of cards with the first person to play all their cards being the winner of that round.
