Games - In the Courtyard and in the Garden

A hatpin stuck in a book determines the winner. The prizes, all mapping Casanova’s travels, include bonbons from Aix-en-Provence and bookplates from London.

What better way to spend the chips won at the gaming table? Guests may bid for and take home a box for beauty patches, a flask for snuff, or a watch, all reproductions of objects at the Louvre. Other lots include a perfume bottle or a cup for hot chocolate featuring the Queen’s own pattern.

Puns, epigrams, charades and riddles all lend themselves to the guests' amusement.
The 18th century loved language and abounded with witty games filled with verve. For it was an art, even a virtue, to play with words.

Will the guests or the courtiers win the race by combining speed and dexterity?