Lot Essay
The game of chess probably came to Iran prior to the seventh century from India, where it is thought to have originated. In his writings, the 10th century Arab, Masudi, mentions the game and states that it had existed long before his time.
Until recently it was generally thought that the medieval chessmen in the Islamic World were those of abstract form of which there are examples in ivory, rock-crystal, and pottery (Contadini, A.: 'Islamic Ivory Chess Pieces, Draughtsmen and Dice in the Ashmolean Museum', in Oxford Studies in Islamic Art, forthcoming volume). The abstract form was adopted in accordance with the Muslim proscription on the representation of living creatures. However in 1977 Soviet archaeologists recovered a complete set of figural chessmen at Afrasiyab, the earlier site of the city of Samarqand (Buryakov, Y.F.: 'On the dating and attribution of some chess sets in the light of finds of 1977 at Afrasiyab', in Sovetskaya Arkheologiya (Russian text with English summary), 1980/3, pp.162-172). These can be dated to the eve of the Arab conquest of Persia in the 7th century. The horsemen of the set carry shields which are held to the side and may be seen as the antecedents of the present piece.
The other figural ivories which have been identified as chessmen are a chariot (rook) in the Department of Oriental Antiquities, the British Museum, said to have been found at Samarqand and dated to the 8th century (inv. no. OA 1991.10.12.1); a knight mounted on a horse in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, also from Samarqand and dated by Orbeli to the 8th or 9th century (Orbeli, I.: Shatrang (Russian text), Leningrad 1936, pp.144-145, fig.14); a piece comprising paired horsemen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York which is said to have been found in Khorassan and has been dated to the 8th or 9th century (inv. no. 1974.207, published Masterpieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, exhibition catalogue, Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin, 1981, no.12, pp.50-51). There is also a fragmentary piece, also in the Metropolitan Museum, said to come from Saqqizabad south of Tabriz which has been dated to the 11th century (inv.no.65.53, published Wilkinson, C.K.: Chess, East and West, Past and Present, a selection fromt he Gustavus A Pfeiffer Collection, introduction by C.K.Wilkinson, catalogue by McNab Dennis, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1968, no.3). Finally there is the famous ivory elephant in the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris, traditionally associated with Charlemagne who received it as a gift from Harun al-Rashid. It has generally been regarded as a chess piece and has been variously dated between the 8th and the 16th century but most recently to the 9th-early 10th century (Pastoreau, M., Aghion,I, Baurmeister, U and Richard, F.: Pièces d'Échecs, exhibition catalogue, Musée du Cabinet des Médailles de la Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris 1990, no.1, fig.4)
The style and details of the present piece point to the 12th or early 13th century when elephants with similar trappings can be seen in the painted pottery of Egypt and Persia. It is important because it shows that in the Islamic World the tradition of the figural chessmen from Afrasiyab continued simultaneously with the abstract form. It is noteworthy too that it is in the 12th century that the earliest figural chessmen, those from Lewis in the Hebrides and now in the British Museum, appear in Europe.
We are indebted to Dr Anna Contadini for her help in the preparation of this entry
Until recently it was generally thought that the medieval chessmen in the Islamic World were those of abstract form of which there are examples in ivory, rock-crystal, and pottery (Contadini, A.: 'Islamic Ivory Chess Pieces, Draughtsmen and Dice in the Ashmolean Museum', in Oxford Studies in Islamic Art, forthcoming volume). The abstract form was adopted in accordance with the Muslim proscription on the representation of living creatures. However in 1977 Soviet archaeologists recovered a complete set of figural chessmen at Afrasiyab, the earlier site of the city of Samarqand (Buryakov, Y.F.: 'On the dating and attribution of some chess sets in the light of finds of 1977 at Afrasiyab', in Sovetskaya Arkheologiya (Russian text with English summary), 1980/3, pp.162-172). These can be dated to the eve of the Arab conquest of Persia in the 7th century. The horsemen of the set carry shields which are held to the side and may be seen as the antecedents of the present piece.
The other figural ivories which have been identified as chessmen are a chariot (rook) in the Department of Oriental Antiquities, the British Museum, said to have been found at Samarqand and dated to the 8th century (inv. no. OA 1991.10.12.1); a knight mounted on a horse in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, also from Samarqand and dated by Orbeli to the 8th or 9th century (Orbeli, I.: Shatrang (Russian text), Leningrad 1936, pp.144-145, fig.14); a piece comprising paired horsemen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York which is said to have been found in Khorassan and has been dated to the 8th or 9th century (inv. no. 1974.207, published Masterpieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, exhibition catalogue, Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin, 1981, no.12, pp.50-51). There is also a fragmentary piece, also in the Metropolitan Museum, said to come from Saqqizabad south of Tabriz which has been dated to the 11th century (inv.no.65.53, published Wilkinson, C.K.: Chess, East and West, Past and Present, a selection fromt he Gustavus A Pfeiffer Collection, introduction by C.K.Wilkinson, catalogue by McNab Dennis, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1968, no.3). Finally there is the famous ivory elephant in the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris, traditionally associated with Charlemagne who received it as a gift from Harun al-Rashid. It has generally been regarded as a chess piece and has been variously dated between the 8th and the 16th century but most recently to the 9th-early 10th century (Pastoreau, M., Aghion,I, Baurmeister, U and Richard, F.: Pièces d'Échecs, exhibition catalogue, Musée du Cabinet des Médailles de la Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris 1990, no.1, fig.4)
The style and details of the present piece point to the 12th or early 13th century when elephants with similar trappings can be seen in the painted pottery of Egypt and Persia. It is important because it shows that in the Islamic World the tradition of the figural chessmen from Afrasiyab continued simultaneously with the abstract form. It is noteworthy too that it is in the 12th century that the earliest figural chessmen, those from Lewis in the Hebrides and now in the British Museum, appear in Europe.
We are indebted to Dr Anna Contadini for her help in the preparation of this entry