This box contains a set of four more boxes made to contain the counters necessary for playing a card game, probably reversis. This was an old Italian card game, the basis for two very popular 18th-century games, hombre and quadrille. Card playing was a necessary accomplishment for those hoping to take their place in polite society and all manner of people played at many levels of society. Such counter boxes would have been a luxurious and fashionable accessory for a card player of either sex. The outer box lid also features characters from the Commedia dell'arte; a singular Pierrot (the sad clown, pining for Columbine) at the bottom of the lid, with two sets of diametrically placed images of the lovers Harlequin and Columbine towards the centre. Centrally on the large box, and on either side of the ivory dial on each smaller box, are two central busts which may represent the Dauphin Louis Ferdinand and his second Dauphine Marie Josephe de Saxe. The boxes and counters were colour coded to relate to the suits of a pack of cards. Green was for clubs, red for spades, yellow for diamonds and white for hearts. These boxes may have been made by, or in the workshop of, Mariaval. We know little about him, except that he obviously had a large trade in such items, as many sets survive. He may have been the son of the engraver to the king. Box for gaming counters About 1750 France (Paris) Possibly by Mariaval le Jeune Painted and gilded wood Museum no. 1444-1902 [2015] Box with curved, hinged lid, painted in red and gilded, with figures from the Commedia dell'Arte, lined with silk and containing four ivory boxes for gaming counters A rectangular wooden box, with hinged lid of curved section, painted in red and decorated on lid with gilded scrolls and fleur-de-lys, acanthus leaves and Commedia dell'Arte figures, with Harlequin, Columbine and Pierrot depicted, and two central busts which may represent the Dauphin Louis Ferdinand and his second Dauphine Marie Josephe de Saxe. The box is lined with blue silk and contains four smaller boxes with hinged lids, of wood, each painted a different colour (red, green, yellow and white), for gaming counters, each set in the centre of the lid with an ivory dial (for counting scores), decorated with penwork and resist-colouring in red and green. The lids of the boxes are decorated with heavy gilded scrolls, raised in relief, the corners set with fleur-de-lys, the areas to each side of the dials set with the same bust of a man and a woman in profile as on the large box lid, above pairs of dolphins (a single dolphin also shown on the dial). The boxes each contain several engraved mother of pearl playing pieces. Such boxes were made in sets of four to hold counters for a card game, probably the game of reversis, an old Italian card game, from which the games of hombre and quadrille were derived in the 18th century. Such games were popular throughout Europe at the time, particularly quadrille. The four boxes were coloured green (for clubs), red (for spades), yellow (for diamonds) and white (for hearts). The counters for such boxes were made in three shapes, shorter and longer rectangular pieces and also circular pieces.