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Bone and Ebony (1.1)

The Wilkinson (1889) and Laufer (1901) tile sets in this Gallery form part of a select group of early sets that have written documentation associated with them. These two tile sets therefore provide an unequivocal snapshot of one particular Tile Set Pattern from two particular dates and two different locales.

They also provide a type of Tile Set Pattern that spanned a twelve year period. However the Laufer set also shows one of its groups having an engraving style that is found in much earlier tile sets. This early style found amongst a much later style is called a ‘Relict‘ feature (see the Introduction to Gallery 1.1 for an explanation of these terms).

BM Wilkinson set-1

BM Wilkinson set-1
BM Wilkinson set-1

Collected in 1889. Concave b/ebony tiles with transverse dovetail joint. String of Cash on number 1 and pointed Strings of Cash/'Bamboos'. Four small circles inside one larger circle on number one Cash/Circles and single circles on number four to nine of Cash/Circles suit tiles. Unlike the Glover sets in gallery 1.0 there is the presence of red [zhong] and green [fa] ]Honours/Dragons tiles. Note the absence of the Flowers/Seasons.

BM Wilkinson set-2

BM Wilkinson set-2
BM Wilkinson set-2

Side view of tile showing transverse bone and ebony dovetail joint with museum label on the bottom of the ebony base.

BM Wilkinson set box-1

BM Wilkinson set box-1
BM Wilkinson set box-1

Original, small slide top box displaying zhong and fa sinograms. (see MJ Before MJ part 2).

BM Wilkinson set box-2

BM Wilkinson set box-2
BM Wilkinson set box-2

Another view of side of box.

AMNH Laufer set-1

AMNH Laufer set-1
AMNH Laufer set-1

Collected in 1901. Has original, similar box to the Wilkinson set but was mis-catalogued. Virtually identical to the preceding set despite the twelve years difference. However, note the difference in the style of engraving of the Directions sinograms, particularly the North and West sinograms. Compare these to those in the Glover sets to which they have more of a similarity. Thus the sets overall group composition is identical. The engraving style of the suits is also identical to the Wilkinson set but the addition of an earlier engraving style for the Winds/Directions is identical to the older Glover set and hence this earlier engraving style is a relict.

AMNH Laufer set-2

AMNH Laufer set-2
AMNH Laufer set-2

Bone/ebony tiles with transverse dovetail joint.