Contemporary Fair Isle scarf depicting the board game of the Royal Game of Ur.

The Royal Game of Ur is a famous race game played by the kings and queens of ancient Ur. For some three thousand years this was the most popular board game across the whole of the ancient Middle East, played by kings and commoners alike. The original set dates from about 2500 BC and is in the collection of the British Museum.

The game is a race between two players on a board of twenty squares, as shown in the photo. I was commissioned to design a product representing the game for the 'I am Ashurbanipal' exhibition in 2018. Two scarves resulted, and both are now available here in BAKKA's shop.

This photo copyright British Museum and cannot be downloaded or published.