Game Box (For Poker Chips) c. 1939

Francis Law Durand rendered this drawing of a game box for poker chips sometime in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. The box itself is an interesting artifact of leisure and social life. The game box, with its floral ornamentation, provides a glimpse into the cultural values and artistic tastes of its time. Its craftsmanship and decorative motifs, with the mother of pearl inlay, reflect the opulence associated with elite social circles. In the United States, this was the gilded age, an era of industrial expansion, innovation, and the accumulation of private wealth, which was followed by a period of widespread reform. The elite class were often the subject of social critique, and were sometimes portrayed as corrupt and self-serving. To understand this game box more fully, one could explore publications and advertisements from that time. Such research reveals the social rituals of the American leisure class at the turn of the century, underscoring how art is shaped by its historical context.