AN UNUSUAL PORCELAIN CHESS SET

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AN UNUSUAL PORCELAIN CHESS SET
(Communists vs. Capitalists)

by the State Procelain Factory, Leningrad, circa 1926

On the Capitalist side the King is represented as Death, the Queen as Fortuna from whose cornucopia fall gold coins rather than produce, the Bishops are represented by courtiers in tsarist uniforms, the Pawns are in chains, the Knights are armored horses with double-headed eagles surmounting their heads, and the Rooks, following Russian tradition, are boats. On the Communist side, the King is an honest blacksmith and the Queen is a maiden holding a sickle and a sheaf of wheat, the Bishops are soldiers of the Red Army, and the Pawns hold sickles and sheaves of wheat. Decorated in red, pink, black and maroon for the Communist side and in black, gilt and gray for the Capitalist side. All pieces are marked on the bases with the hammer and sickle -- king ....cm high

Lot Essay

The set was made at the State Porcelain Factory at Leningrad which was formerly the Imperial Porcelain Factory at St. Petersburg. An almost identical chess set is illustrated by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in its catalogue Chess: East and West, Past and Present, a selection from the Gustavus A. Pfeiffer Collection, no. 67, 1968.

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