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Board game:Jeu de La Laiti퀌�re & du pot au lait (The Game of the Milkmaid)

ca. 1910

The Strong National Museum of Play

The Strong National Museum of Play
Rochester , United States

Jeu de La Laiti퀌�re & du pot au lait (The Milkmaid Game) is based on a tale of the same name by French fabulist Jean de La Fontaine in the 17th century. It tells the story of a milkmaid on her way to market with a jug of milk on her head. Along the way, she imagines selling the milk to buy eggs, which would hatch into fine chickens that she would sell for a fat pig, which would then be used to buy cows. As she visualizes her wealth growing, the milkmaid stumbles, spills her milk, and with it go her dreams. The game board is styled after this poem, with each square containing a line from the story and a corresponding image. At the bottom of the board are two paper dolls in the shape of milkmaids, which can be cut out to use as playing pieces. Despite the French origin of the fable and French language appearing on the board, the game was published in Nuremberg, Germany. The board is designed to resemble an pinal print, a popular art style originating in France in the 19th century. These prints depicted various subjects - generally based on religion, history, or popular novels and stories - and were hand-colored in bold, bright colors using stencils.

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  • Title: Board game:Jeu de La Laiti퀌�re & du pot au lait (The Game of the Milkmaid)
  • Date Created: ca. 1910
  • Location: Epinal, France
  • Subject Keywords: milkmaid, pot, milk
  • Type: Board Games
  • Medium: paper
  • Object ID: 112.2157
  • Credit Line: Gift of Peter Lemcke
The Strong National Museum of Play

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