Snakes/ladders, culminating in the throne of God, reached by climbing 100 squares (13 snakes + 17 ladders), ebony and inlaid mother of pearl - detail. A rare 19th c Indian game board at @MAACambridge - set off on this thread thanks to @iamrana.

Here is a reference image of the complete board, all 22kg, courtesy of the @MAACambridge online catalogue:
http://collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/index.php?cmd=objectdetail&id=9832CFD7-F7EA-495B-A36D-084B8F1F0B59&resetlist

The catalogue entry is impressively thorough, and includes detailed provenance, exhibition history, and literature.

[Andrew Topsfield has published on these Indian game boards, first in 1985 then a supplementary article in 2006: …https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy2.londonlibrary.co.uk/stable/3250203 
+
…https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy2.londonlibrary.co.uk/stable/25261845 ]

Provenance notes at @MAACambridge include a letter, dated 11/12/38, from Henry Rundle Lawrence, who lent and then donated this board to the museum. "Sir. I am not out after money – when I had the privilege of the friendship of Baron Anatole von Hügel..."

[Von Hügel was the first curator at @MAACambridge.]

"... I put in a few objects that he thought worthy of the Varsity Museum. I have now two things that I thought you might be interested in. One would rather see them go to our Varsity than into a junk shop."

" ‘Item A “Snake & Ladder” board which my Grandfather, General Richard Charles Lawrence, brought back from India in 1857, when he “acquired” it after the Mutiny under the impression that it was then an antique."

[N.b. the careful phrasing of General Lawrence's "acquisition" - Lawrence served with British forces at the siege of Delhi, and this board was almost certainly looted.]

"It is of mother of pearl inlaid in a heavy black wood which may be ebony, but which I believe to be shisham, or Tali. My small stepgrandson, who knows all about snakes and ladders, inspected it thoughtfully and asked what the name..."

"in the top left hand corner was. No chance of getting out of that. Shaitan. What does that mean? The devil. Oh well. Of course. Then you have to go back to the beginning."

"The arch angels etc. are interesting. Clearly some Hindu or other unbeliever has got at the Lord Mahomed, and picked out the mother of pearl. Is it any use to you? A permanent loan till I pan out – Then for my executor..."

"... beneficiaries there will be none. Personal, and poor, snap shots enclosed."

Richard Lawrence appears on a family memorial at St Martin's, North Stoke, recorded by @I_W_M: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/61279

Henry Lawrence does not appear on the tablet, but here is a capsule biography for him, which gives some idea of his career. Of a piece with his ancestors as recorded on that memorial in North Stoke.