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CHESS MASTERPIECES: (later, in Europe, replaced by a HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DR. ). These were typically flanked GEORGE AND VIVIAN DEAN by elephants (later to become COLLECTION bishops), though in this case, they are EXHIBITION CHECKLIST camels with drummers; cavalrymen (later to become knights); and or elephants, (later to Saint Louis, Missouri 2.1. Abstract Bead and Dart Style Set become rooks or “castles”). A September 9, 2011-February 12, with Board, India, 1700s. Natural and frontline of eight foot soldiers 2012 green-stained ivory, black lacquer- (pawns) completed each side. work folding board with silver and mother-of-pearl.

This classical Indian style is influenced by the Islamic trend toward total abstraction of the design. The pieces are all lathe- turned. The black lacquer finish,

made in India from the husks of the 1.1. Neresheimer French vs. lac insect, was first developed by the Germans Set and Castle Board, Chinese. The intricate inlaid silver Hanau, Germany, 1905-10. Silver and grid pattern traces alternating gilded silver, ivory, diamonds, squares filled with lacy inscribed fern sapphires, pearls, amethysts, rubies, leaf designs and inlaid mother-of- and marble. pearl disks. These decorations 2.3. Mogul Style Set with combine a grid of squares, common Presentation Case, India, 1800s. Before WWI, Neresheimer, of Hanau, to Western forms of chess, with Beryl with inset diamonds, rubies, Germany, was a leading producer of another grid of inlaid center points, and gold, wooden presentation case ornate silverware and decorative found in Japanese and Chinese clad in maroon velvet and silk-lined. objects. Sketches and documentation variations of chess. for this tour-de-force work were lost The warrior Zahir ud-din Muhammad when the factory was destroyed in Game Position: Babur, from Kabul, Afghanistan, the war. Vinyaka Rajarama Tope Problem: became the first Mogul Emperor of Mate with in Four Moves c. India in 1525. His Muslim dynasty The faces and hands were produced 1893 exerted the influence of Persian by the German master ivory carvers culture upon his Indian subjects, of Erbach. The pieces on the German including the preference for highly side are gilt over silver with abstracted forms for chess pieces and gemstones inset into the bases of all the crafting of bejeweled sets from pieces. German pawns’ helmets sport precious materials, such as this one gargoyles while the French pawns’ of beryl, a crystalline emerald-like helmets are topped with fleur-de-lis. mineral found in Northern Pakistan. The castle functions as a true , containing drawers in which to secure all the pieces behind the heavy, locked doors. 2.2. Rajasthan Style Figurative Set, Game Position: India, 1700s. Carved polychromed vs. . ivory. This rare group of 700-900 ivory, , 1899. . stone, alabaster, and glass Persian This set is in the probable style of pieces is small in size but huge in early sets—elaborate influence. They show how Islamic and realistic in depicting the designers created abstract versions components of an Indian army. A of the earlier figurative Indian pieces. rajah, with driver, was perched atop the tallest elephant with his “mantri,” or advisor, on an elephant to his left 1

3.1. Pil (Elephant) with 2 Horns, Persia, 700-900. Ivory with circular The arching, scalloped cutaways of pierced decorations. the gilt silver base are more suggestive of Islamic style as are the The two protrusions signify the tusks profuse leaf and vine decorative of the elephant found in the earliest motifs related to those on Persian figurative Indian sets. These two prayer rugs. The designs are symmetric points are later 3.7. Mushroom Style Abstract Set executed in niello technique transmuted into the points of the and Engraved Silver Board, Syria, originated by the Egyptians, a black ’s 1600s. Chased, stamped, and mixture of silver, copperm and lead is headpiece, the mitre, in European engraved silver alternately gilt. rubbed or inlayed into engraved or sets. etched metal to heighten the Since the Koran discouraged detailing. 3.2. Pil (Elephant), Persia, 700-900. depiction of humans or animals, this Stone with incised arch motif. is one of many Islamic design motifs Game Position: inspired by plant forms. Technically, al-Adli (c. 800-870). Problem: White The linear arch motif designs may be this is a superb example of chasing, a Plays and Wins. Old Muslim Rules. mimicking the protruding tusk motif process of hammering or stamping Weak Queen and Leaping Bishop usually expressed in three sheet metal to create 3-D forms. ______dimensions. This arch motif may also These forms, as well as the board be a precursor to the later “tulip were then covered with a design” chess sets that evolved in of complex overall Turkey. engraved and embossed decorative patterning. 3.3. Pil (Elephant), Persia, 700-900. Stone with horizontal decorative Game Position: bands. as-Suli (c. 880-946). Problem: White Plays and Wins. Old Muslim Rules. In this variant, the horizontal banding Weak Queen and Leaping Bishop may have aided in identifying the ______piece. 3.9. Braided and Embroidered

Moroccan Travel Set and Board, 3.4. Payadah (Pawn), Persia, 700- Morocco, 1800s. Silver and gold lace 900. Glass with traces of small, braid, glass, wood, silver, velvet, and regular painted or incised circular brocade. decorations.

This is an example of passementerie, 3.5. Pil (Elephant), Persia, 700- 900. gold and silver decorative braiding Persia. Alabaster. techniques, used to create an entire

. Silver and gold was braided In this variant, traces of lathe-turned 3.8. Jade and Marble Set and Board, over wooden forms fit into chased incised horizontal banding may have Persia, 1800s. Jade and marble pieces silver bases of Moroccan coins. Their aided in identifying the piece. with a board of jade and marble slight flexibility and eccentric inlaid into a niello decorated gilt abstracted forms suggest exotic 3.6. Asp or Faras (Horseman), Persia, silver 4-legged base. growing plant life. Only the turban- 700-900. Alabaster. like top of the Queens and the horse In this lathe-turned and carved set head form with inset glass eyes of Here, the form of a horse in profile, the elephants are not represented as the knights are recognizable without rider, has been reduced to a 2 tusked but rather with single, figurative elements. The folding simple, but symbolic silhouette. downturned trunks. Western board of heartwood clad in velvet influence can be seen in the cavalry with durable gold thread embroidery pieces depicted as horseheads, similar to western knights, and the and brocade decorations was made chariots reduced to a wheel motif for caravan travel. The red and green translated into the crownlike cren- color scheme harkens back to the elated ramparts of a castle, like the rubies and emeralds in the earliest European style . Indian sets. 2

Game Position: as-Suli Problem: Black Plays and Wins. Old Muslim Rules with Weak Queen and Leaping Bishop. This group of French and German pieces from the 1500-1700s shows

the rebirth and growing sophistication of figurative carving as European chess set design emerged

5.1. Burgundy Rock Crystal Set and from the influence of Islamic Board, France, Early 1500s. Carved abstraction. rock crystal and smoky topaz, silver, gilt, and metal foils. 6.1. Springer () or Turm (Rook), Germany, 1500s. Ivory. Chess sets of topaz and rock crystal, 6.2. Cavalier (Knight), France, 1500s. 3.10. Abstract Tulip Style Set with which is the colorless form of quartz, Ivory. ƐŚƚĈƉĂĚĂ ŽĂƌĚ, Natural and were highly prized by European stained ivory pieces, velvet and gold nobility. The rarity of crystal and Falconry, like chess, was one of the embroidery board. topaz that is both flawless and large knightly talents of the Middle Ages, enough to carve chess pieces from which helps to identify this piece as a Tulips originally grew wild in Persia, made them greatly desired. To carve knight. Turkey, and near Kabul but came to and polish the complex shapes in this symbolize nobility and refinement. set would have required the most 6.3. Fou (Fool), France, 1500s. Ivory. The Great Mogul Emperor of India, skilled artisans with the most

Babur, was a tulip fancier as was advanced technology of the era. The Wearing a patterned costume and Ottoman Sultan Ahmed III (1703- crystal and topaz “bodies” are sitting back-wards on a donkey, are 1730), whose reign (1718-1730), was mounted in patinated silver and gilt characteristics of the unique French referred to as “The Tulip Era.” Here a bases and topped with hand wrought tradition of sub-stituting a “fou” for combination of deft lathe-turning , horseheads, and caps of the the bishop. and hand-carving was used to depict same materials. This is the only the ensemble of chess pieces as complete set of its kind. 6.4. Fou (Fool), France, 1500s. Ivory. stages in the growth cycle of this celebrated flower. The board surface is comprised of The fool may have replaced the alternate crystal and topaz squares bishop because of the similarity Travel was long and arduous, even under-laid with silver and gold foil. between the two-pointed mitre for nobility, and since chess was a The surrounding base is of gilt silver headpiece of bishops and the two- favored pastime, boards that could moldings, top and bottom, separated pointed caps of court jesters. be easily folded or rolled and packed by a band of elaborately chased silver were popular. This un-checkered decorations. Each corner is 6.5. Fou (Fool), France, 1700s. Ivory. board of velvet and gold embroidery supported on the back of a gilt was made or the Indian game tortoise, a symbol of slow but This French “fou” has long pointed ƐŚƚĈƉĂĚĂ͕ǁŚŝĐŚǁĂƐĚĞƌŝǀĞĚĨƌŽŵ determined armored warfare. donkey-like ears, another variation the eight by eight square grid of the on the two-pointed cap of the court Vastu Purush Mandala, believed by Game Position: jester. early Indians to be the universal Giulio Cesare Polerio vs. Lorenzo. template for social organizations. 1575. 6.6. Königin (Queen), Germany, ͞ƐŚƚĈƉĂĚĂ means “eight lines, rows, : Classical. Closed 1500s. Ivory. or steps”. Variation

6.7. Königin (Queen), Germany, Game Position: 1600s. Ivory. as-Suli Problem: White Plays and

Wins. Old Muslim Rules with Weak 6.8. Reine (Queen), France, 1500s. Queen and Leaping Bishop. Ivory.

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These queens reveal their gender and Siddons as Lady Macbeth and her gentility by riding sidesaddle. brother the actor, John Philip Kemble, as the . Each pawn is a 6.9. Tour (Rook), France, 1500s. unique figure as well. Ivory. ______

6.11. & 6.12. with Jaques Carton-Pierre Paper Mâche Box, England, 1850s. Turned and carved natural and stained ivory pieces and cast, laminated, and 6.10. Eger Wood with painted paper mâche box. Nathaniel Low Relief Carving, Eger, Germany, Cooke, designer. 1600s. Carved and inlaid wood. 7.1. Battle of the Sexes, Austria,

Pieces, 1783; Board, 1815. Silver and Designed by Nathaniel Cooke, an In the 17th century, Eger, Germany, gilt pieces and gilt silver, lapis, and early example of a Jaques and Sons was noted for its specialized malachite board. style, this chess set was famously woodcarving techniques: figurative endorsed by , the intarsia and marquetry. Figurative The battle of the sexes has long been nineteenth-century English chess intarsia is the creation of a social and moral theme in art and champion and noted Shakespearean recognizable images by gluing woods drama. The battle depicted here is scholar. It was the first chess set of different color and grain to a comparatively sedate, with the design endorsed by a player and one backing and then carving in low pawns of the gilt side as young gents of the earliest examples of product relief, while marquetry is the creation in fine jackets and jaunty hats in endorsement by a champion. of images or patterns by inlaying pursuit of the short-skirted peasant woods of different color and grain on girl pawns of the silver side. Each By 1924, the Staunton set had been a flat surface. piece is stamped to certify it is pure accepted by Fédération silver and with a maker’s mark, “FB” Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) as These techniques are most often or “JB.” The kings of each side do not the only style of chess set to be used used to create decorated furniture, wear a cross on their crowns as they for all official competitive play church interiors, and public buildings, typically would during this era, worldwide. It is the most widely used but this low-relief carving of the hinting that the set was originally style of chess set in the world. Biblical tale of David and Bathsheba made for a client of another faith. offered a moral tale for personal contemplation. The board, of the same style and stamped with silver and maker’s Its companion chessboard features marks, was made 32 years later, also alternating fruit and flower in Vienna. Resting on cast griffin’s marquetry motifs. Such works that paws, gilt silver frames the dazzlingly include both chess and backgammon sensuous malachite and lapis lazuli boards, as this one does, are inlaid board. extremely rare. They represent a high point in European wood carving, Game Position: vs. Howard composition, and drawing. 6.13. Macbeth Set, England, Early Staunton. London, 1857. French 1800s. Jasperware by Wedgewood. Defense: Normal Variation John Flaxman, designer.

A prime example of Josiah Wedgewood’s impeccable craftsmanship, these pieces were inspired by Greek motifs and British Gothic sculpture. The noted sculptor John Flaxman was commissioned to portray Shakespearean actress Sarah 4

Catherine in a décolleté gown with her lover and minister, Prince Grigori Potemkin, opposed by her son, Prince Paul I, and his wife, in equally alluring garb.

Harkening back to Indian origins, the rooks are depicted as elephant heads. The board alternates amber

8.1. Europeans vs. Africans Set and 8.2. Good vs. Evil Set and Board. inlays with ebony squares, beading, Board, Italy, 1800. Coral, ebony and Italy, 1700s. Natural and stained and borders. marble pieces with coral, ebony, ivory pieces with carved and marble, lemonwood, and silver engraved ivory and ebony board. Game Position: board. Smith vs. François André Philidor. As with the 7.1. Battle of the Sexes, London, 1790. Bishop’s Opening: Made during an era of the rampant the battle between good and evil has Defense. colonization of Africa the subject of long been a major theme in western this set is the of races and art and drama. This ensemble was cultures. The pieces are depicted as likely made in Florence at the end of sensitively carved individual busts the de Medici dynasty. The “good” mounted on pillars and plinths. king and queen stand dignified, flanked by bishops with Bibles and The Europeans are carved of pinkish with 8 different angels as pawns. The Mediterranean coral atop black “devil-red” evil side queen poses marble pillars trimmed with yellow seductively next to her king, Siena marble. The Africans are of Mephistopheles, the Devil himself, black marble atop Siena marble bases while their bishops hold copies of trimmed with coral. Each African bust Dante’s Inferno and leering satyrs act 9.2. Napoleon and Josephine vs. is further detailed with inset Siena as their pawns. George III and Queen Charlotte Set, marble eyes and coral lips. The king, France, Early 1800s. Polychromed queen and bishops also have coral Game Position: ivory with Erbach Ivory Board, earrings and turbans. Giambattista Loli vs. Domenico Ercole Erbach, Germany, 1800s. Natural and Del Rio. Modena, 1755. stained ivory. The board is black marble and coral Game: Italian Variation. inlaid into a rectangular box of Marshal Joachim Murat, the King of lemon-wood and ebony with a Naples was married to Napoleon’s storage drawer for the pieces. As youngest sister, Caroline. A letter with the Burgundy Rock Crystal Set, from the Murat family suggests that this board is supported at each this set was owned by Napoleon, a corner by a patinated silver tortoise, serious chess player, and was then symbolizing slow, but determined given to Murat. Carved in , this warfare. set features Napoleon himself; his , Josephine; Marshals Michel Game Position: 9.1. Catherine the Great Amber Set Ney and André Masséna as bishops; De Beaurevoir vs.Domenico Ercole Del French dragoons as knights; and his Rio. Casual, 1798. King’s Gambit: and Board, Russia, Late 1700s. Carved amber and ebony. Old Guard as pawns. King George III Declined. Classical Variation General. and his queen are flanked by Vice

This set was created by a German Admiral Horatio Nelson and the Duke

amber carver in the St. Petersburg of Wellington as bishops; British

workshop of Catherine the Great of dragoons as knights; and Royal Scots Russia, who was an avid chess player. Grenadiers as pawns. The material came from her royal amber mines in Kaliningrad. Crafted This display set was kept on a table at of clear and darker wine-colored Café de la Régence, the nineteenth- amber, the ensemble exudes a century center of French chess, with passionate inner glow, portraying a plaque that said Napoleon had 5

played chess there. The ivory Erbach 1740, supported by Louis XV, chess board features decorative renamed Sèvres, in 1756; the appliqués of flora and fauna. Lomonosov Porcelain Factory (Russia), 1744; Villeroy and Boch It is said that Napoleon is the most (France), 1748; Königliche Porzellan popular subject of chess sets. Manufaktur, KPM, by Frederick II of (Germany), 1763; Wedgwood Game Position: (England), 1759; Spode (England), Smith vs. François André Philidor. 1767; Limoges (France), 1771; Royal London, 1790. Bishop’s Opening: Copenhagen (Denmark), 1775. 11.1. Pique Sable Set, France, Late Berlin Defense Variation. 1700s. Natural and stained ivory Game Position: pieces displayed with sand in a François André Philidor vs. John M. Wedgewood vase. Bruehl. London, 1788. Chess Variants

Literally meaning “sand pike” in French, this style was invented when seventeenth-century French prisoners of war whittled pointy- stemmed pieces from scavenged mutton bones and played on grids 10.1. Early Meissen Set and Tray scratched into sand. The famed Board, Germany, 1740. Multi-colored French ivory carvers of Dieppe glazed porcelain. refined the style by fashioning pieces

on long ivory or metal pins to be used Legend has it that Augustus II, King of by the leisure class in the sand at the Poland and Elector of Saxony, nearly 10.2. Murano Blown Glass Set with beach. Louis XIII of France emptied his kingdom’s treasury with Stained and Inlaid Chestnut Board, popularized Pique-Sable play on his passion for buying Chinese Italy, 1700s. checkered needlepoint pillows during porcelain. Porcelain making was a long carriage rides. well-guarded secret of the Chinese As the popularity of chess grew in and was so profitable that it was Europe, artisans in all different crafts Game Position: referred to as “white gold.” sought to produce distinctive sets. Wilhelm Steinitz vs. Curt von

Bardeleben. Hastings, 1895. Italian Augustus locked up the alchemist, Accented with gold and red, this set Game: Classical Variation. Greco Johann Böttger for seven years and was created by the greatest Gambit, Traditional Line ordered him to turn lead into gold. glassworkers of the era on the island

Instead, in January of 1708, with help of Murano, near Venice. These forms from fellow alchemist Walter von echo, in miniature, the hollow lamp Tschirnhaus, Böttger created forms and chandelier decorations porcelain from kaolin clay mixed with which were among the Murano alabaster. He also discovered how to craftsmens’ specialties ever since glaze it with complex designs and 1291. With cork-stoppered bottoms, colors. The tray-like board of this each piece was to be filled with early chess set is the reminder that colored liquor intended to be drunk most porcelain was used for by the capturing player. elaborate table services. Game Position: Augustus II established the first Domenico Ercole Del Rio vs. 11.2. Insects Set and Board, Italy, c. European porcelain works, Meissen Portocarrero. Modena, 1790.King’s 1790. Ivory and ebony pieces and Porcelain Factory, near Dresden in Gambit: Accepted. Cunningham board. 1710. Augustus guarded the secret of Defense porcelain-making, but 25 rival firms In 1766 the word entomology, “the sprang up in Europe by the end of the study of insects,” was created century. following the 1735 publication of

Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus’ Among the other porcelain-works are Systema Naturae, which presented the Vincennes Manufactory (France), 6

an early classification system of The fortress-like splayed walls of the common good. A hammer-wielding insects. Concurrently, Rene Antoine chessboard base comprise a history- black-smith is king; a farm maiden is Ferchault de Reaumur had begun rich Quaternion—a four-sided queen; guardian soldiers stand in for classifying insects by their functions. heraldic display—with an enameled bishops (since all religion had been and gilt coat of arms belonging to a banished); horse heads on red star- This early entomological ensemble major ruler on each side. These are forms are knights; boats bearing stars portrays different butterflies and flanked by three smaller enameled with the sickles and hammers are insects. The kings and queens are noble crests, which represent rooks; and sickle bearing harvesters mature examples of four different constituent estates of that ruler’s are pawns. species. Bishops are crickets, knights part of the empire. Spear-wielding are dragonflies, and rooks are knights on horses symbolically Capitalism is represented in various caterpillars. The pawns are also protect the ruler’s crest elaborately forms of evil. The king is an armored different varieties of insects. As framed with open-work vines. Large death’s head swathed in ermine rigorous in intent as Linnaeus and de horses rear from the four compass- while the queen seductively spills Reaumur, the maker of this set point corners of the empire/board, gold from a sack and her breasts inscribed the bottom of each piece which is encircled by an unbroken from a lacy open bodice. As a with its species in . chain symbolizing orderly succession reminder of their past oppression, of rulers and the protection of all the bishops are members of the Game Position: through the unification of the Romanoff Dynasty Imperial Guards; Domenico Lorenzo Ponziani vs. empire. the boat-like rooks bear shields Domenico Ercole Del Rio. Modena, emblazoned with the executioner’s 1770. Game Position: chain and axe and the pawns are Queen Pawn Game: Steinitz vs. Joseph Henry forlorn, hopelessly enchained Countergambit Blackburne. “Zukertort’s Immortal.” workers. Consistent with their London, 1883. : political visions, the Capitalist pawns Agincourt Defense are looking right while the Communists are “leftists.”

Game Position: Fyodor Ivanovich Dus Chotimirsky vs. Frank James Marshall. Moscow, 1925. Nimzo-Indian Defense: Normal Ragozin Variation

12.1. Habsburg Dynasty Set and Board, Austria, Early 1900s. Patinated silver, gilt, enamel, garnet, turquoise, pearls, emeralds, and 13.1. Soviet Propaganda Set, Russia, diverse other gemstones and 1923. Polychrome Porcelain. mother-of-pearl and tortoise board GFZ - Gossudarstvennyi Farforovyi with silver and gilt inlay and enamel Zavod (State Porcelain Factory), decorated base with gemstones. Leningrad. Natalia & Yelena Danko, designers. Karelian Birch Burl veneer Commissioned in the era of the last Board. Habsburg monarchs, this Austrian Rococco style set has 32 unique This 1923 porcelain Soviet figures fashioned of silver and gilt Propaganda Set was made by the and decorated with seed pearls, Danko sisters at the famed GFZ, State enamels, turquoises, amethysts, Porcelain Factory. Capitalism vs. 14.1. 1905 Fabergé Kuropatkin Set carnelians, and inset garnet Communism was one of the central and Board with Presentation Case, gemstones into which portrait heads ideological conflicts of the 20th Russia, 1905. House of Fabergé. have been reverse engraved or century. Aventurine quartz, kalgon jasper, and intaglio carved. silver pieces and Siberian jade, Made by Red Communists, the apricot serpentine, aventurine “good” side depicts hard work for the quartz, and cast and engraved silver

7 board. Karl Gustav Hjalmar Armfeldt, Game Position: designer. vs. Nikolay Tselikov. Moscow, 1915. Spanish This set was commissioned by the Game: . Keres Variation Russian royal family and the officers who served with General Alexi Nikolayevich Kuropatkin to commemorate his faithful, though not victorious, duty in Manchuria.

Engraved around the bottom of the silver base of the board are the dedication and the names of twelve or more of the most important royals, officers, and other major figures of state. Like the Burgundy 15.1 Ball-in-Ball Style Set, China, Rock Crystal Set, the turned and 1800s. Natural and stained ivory. polished “bodies” are set in silver With Floral Decorated Lacquerwork th bases and topped with impeccably 14.2. 1915 Fabergé Egyptians vs. Folding Board, China, 20 century. sculpted silver crowns, horse heads, Assyrians Set with Presentation Urushi lacquer. and caps. With the exception of the Case, Russia, 1915. House of Fabergé. knights and the rooks, the pieces are Cast silver and gilt. Karl Gustav Nineteenth-century Canton China abstract. Hjalmar Armfeldt, designer. produced ivory ball-in-ball, or puzzle- ball, bases for the chess sets it Czar Nicolas II, a serious chess player, This set was perhaps inspired by The produced for British East India sponsored early international Excavation at Babylon, a popular Trading Company to export to tournaments in 1909 and 1914. He 1914 book detailing a major Europe. Each base has seven hollow, created the title “” and archaeological project (1900-1912) in loose, lace-thin, concentric spheres conferred it upon the top five Mesopotamia by German architect hand-carved inside each other from players: Alexander Alekhine, Raul and archaeologists Robert Koldewey one solid lathe-turned ivory ball. Rich Jose Capablanca, Emanual Lasker, and Walter Andrae. floral and figural sculpted designs Frank Marshall, and Siegbert cover the outermost surfaces, Tarrasch. Silver and gilt, this set was executed echoing the patterning on the by Karl Gustav Hjalmar Armfeldt, the Manchu Dynasty clothing of the Game Position: same Fabergé master silversmith chess figures. Georg Rotlewi vs. . who had fashioned the 1905 Fabergé The Floral Decorated Lacquerwork “Rubinstein’s Immortal.” Lodz, 1907. Kuropatkin Set. Created during WW I, Folding Board is a twentieth-century Tarrasch Defense: Symmetrical this design relies directly on example in the style of Pingyao Variation Armfeldt’s considerable skills at Lacquerware, famous for its elegant working in Egyptian and Assyrian flower and landscape motifs, much sculpting styles sought after and exported to and imagery instead of the use of Southeast Asia, Russia and England dazzling rare and precious materials from the time of Manchu Dynasty. and details. Here, the chess squares with black craquelature pattern are bordered These are the only two known chess with sinuous branches of needlepine sets by Fabergé in the world. clusters which frame traditional Complete with their custom, silk Chinese sailboats, floating in a lined presentation cases, each bottomless ocean background of emblazoned with the Fabergé logo black, all hand-buffed to a lustrous and their cities of origin, this is the finish. first time these two sets are exhibited together in public Chinese lacquer, made from the anywhere in the world. urushiol-rich tree resin was one of the earliest man-made coatings resistant to water, acids, salts, and scratching. Varying the amount of 8

iron oxide added to the resin resulted Board, China, 20th century. Multicolor enforced the English control of Indian in either red or black color. urushi lacquer. provinces and guarded the lucrative trade of the British East India Game Position: Stylistic details of many Asian Company. Such highly detailed Adolf Anderssen vs. Lionel Adalbert cultures are combined in these decorative sets were made for Bagration Felix Kieseritsky. London, figures carved from coral. A display, not play. They were bought 1851. Knight’s Gambit: Accepted. crystalline form of limestone created from skilled carvers in Berhampur by Bishop’s Gambit Bryan from the calcified exoskeletons of sea the British soldiers and traders as Countergambit “The ” animals, the hardness and fine even mementoes of their time in India grain of coral make it ideal for highly serving the . This prime detailed carvings which can be example of the figurative polished to a high luster. polychromed designs uses the earliest Indian chess color scheme— Another example of urushi red vs. green, with red-suited Brits lacquerwork, the Illustrated facing off with green-clothed Indians. Lacquerwork Folding Board features ______a luminous, full color landscape vignette of village life centered on each side of the playing area while different village details in red and brown wash fill the identical light squares of each side. A rarely seen detail on boards of this style is the 15.2. The Incomparable, China, labeling of the ranks and files of 1700s. Carved natural and stained chess squares along their borders in ivory. red, to aid serious players in their 17.1. Angkor Wat Set with Wood studies. and Ivory Inlaid Board, Cambodia. The unsurpassed quality and detail of 1700s. Stained ivory pieces with decorative carving, with each piece Game Position: wood and ivory inlaid board. unique and each on a base with six Adolf Anderssen vs. . different openwork-carved landscape Berlin, 1852. Italian Game: Evans Cambodian craftsmen scenes, led chess historian Alexander Gambit Pierce Defense “The commemorated their most Hammond to pronounce this set “the Evergreen Partie” celebrated cultural site, the twelfth- most incomparable chess set in the century temple of Angkor Wat, in this world.” Each piece is a specific highly ornate, intensely carved portrait character outfitted in an figurative chess set. A combination of elaborate and accurately detailed Khmer style galleried and mountain Manchu Dynasty costume. It was form structures, Angkor Wat is the owned for generations by the British largest religious complex in the Royal family, ultimately by world. Stained in the original chess Mary Harewood, daughter of King colors, red and green, the chess set is George V and sister of King George VI complimented by two large (recently popularized in the film The additional “display piece” carvings of King’s Speech). details of the Hindu deities and their ______attendants featured at the temple.

The highly figurative set is contrasted by its folding board decorated in a stunningly complex array of abstract 16.1. John Style Set, India, Late geometric designs in ivory and a host 1700s. Polychromed ivory. of inlaid tropical hardwoods.

The theme of this style set is the Game Position: 15.3. Carved Coral Figurative Set, opposition of native Indian troops to Vinayaka Rajarama Tope Problem: Japan, 1800s. Orange and white coral the John Company soldiers (often Mate with Pawn in Six Moves with Illustrated Lacquerwork Folding British mercenaries). These soldiers

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17.2. Kashmir Bell Style Set, India, 1700s. Natural and stained ivory with Philippine Carved Wood Board with ivory inlay.

The region between India and Pakistan, known as Kashmir, was home to innovative craftsmen who used primitive bow -driven lathes in combination with delicate hand carving techniques to produce distinctive, ornate, highly abstract works. The complexity of forms, uniformity of repeated motifs and astounding details such as the miniscule chains and hanging pendants testify to the Kashmiris’ consummate talents.

The Kashmiri craftsmen may have elaborated greatly on design sketches by Jacob Petit published in London in 1824. Petit’s designs were intended as patterns to be followed by western gentleman hobbyists who had acquired new, sophisticated European ornamental lathes. However, no western gentlemen’s examples of the period compare to these Kashmiri works.

Game Position: Tiruvengadacharya Problem: Mate with Pawn in Six Moves

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