PROBABLY BERHAMPORE, CIRCA 1840

The 'John Company' chess sets are composed of wonderfully carved, individual characters, making up two armies; the John Company versus the Indian armies led by the Maharajam. The figures on the natural side represent the British side; the British military officers carved with tricorn hats, riding on caparisoned elephants, the Indian foot soldiers are 'sepoys', wearing chapka hats and bearing muskets, the knights as equestrian cuirassed soldiers and the bishops represented as ferocious tigers. The John Company, was a mercenary army, named after the mythical sun-blushed figure, John Bull, who defined the image of Grand Britannia, and sponsored by the almighty trading giant, the East India Co. to keep control of its usurped provinces, especially after the successes at the Battle of Plassey (1757). The Indians were represented as Princes, leading their foot soldiers, carved here as Sikhs. Many aspects of the pieces reflect the Company's imperialistic attitude. Chess sets of this type, were carved in the barrack town of Berhampur, outside the British controlled Murhidabad, Bengal. Some of the finest and earlier sets date back to the 1770's, one being given to Lord Clive of India, as a presentation set, and now in the Victorian and Albert Museum.

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
Keats,The Illustrated Guide to World Chess Sets, St.Martin's Press, 1985. Page 23, plate 10, illustrates a comparable set.
Gareth Williams, Master Pieces, Apple Press 2000, page100.
Christie's South Kensington, The Allen Hofrichter Collection of Chess Sets, September 2000, lot 19.