The four alabaster vases ([Pl. LII]. 1) belong to the drawer; there were three fragments of others.
Ivory Gaming-board[29] ([Pl. L]). Shaped like an axe blade and resting on four bull’s legs carved in solid ivory. The dimensions are 15 x 10 cms. (maximum measurement), total height 7 cms.
It contains a small drawer of ivory and ebony, which has a bolt of ivory shot in copper staples for fixing it when closed. Belonging to the game are ten carved ivory pins or playing pieces—five have dogs’ heads, and five jackals’ heads; these, no doubt, were kept in the drawer.
Its construction is a flat top made of two ivory slabs, backed by two wooden panels which are joined together by three transverse wood pegs passed through the thickness of each panel. The bottom was made of one piece of wood with cross-bars at either end. The curved ivory sides and end are backed with blocks of wood that take the same shape as the board, and leave in the interior an oblong space to allow entry of the drawer. The ivory bull’s legs are tongued into the wooden side-blocks, and are held there by means of three ebony rivets. Round the four edges, top and bottom, as well as the four corners, was an ebony veneer, most of which was destroyed. Glue was the means of adhesion. The wood used was sycomore. The upper surface ([Pl. L]. 1) has engraved upon it a palm-tree surmounted by the sign ‘Shen’ (see [Fig. 14]), the latter being pierced through the ivory and wooden body beneath. On each side of the palm-stem is a parallel line of ten holes, along the edges of the two sides a row of fifteen holes, and at the top edge on either side of the ‘Shen’ a row of four holes (and if including the corner hole, five). Each hole is encircled by a small ring, engraved, and is pierced through the ivory and wood below, and these holes were intended to receive the playing pieces. For some reason or other, a large hole was made in the centre of the palm-tree, but it was afterwards filled in. In the front edge of the board is a small semicircular notch, made to permit the thumb to grip the drawer when opening it.
