AFTER A DESIGN BY NATALIA AND YELENA DANKO, 20TH CENTURY

This set reflects the influence of the October Revolution 1916 and the spread of Sovietism upon Russian decorative arts and design. Chess sets in porcelain had been made since 1760 in the Imperial Porcelain Factory, St. Petersburg. This example was designed by the sculpturess Natalia and her sister Yelana in 1922, who worked at the Lomonosov State Porcelain Factory, where these sets were produced until 1939. Traditional figures have been adapted to personify the Communists, symbolising liberty and labour in a predominately red palette. They oppose the Captials, who stand for enslavement and inequality, echoed in the black scheme and rich gilding, predominately on the king (figure of Death), and the excessive 'horn of plenty' presided over by the queen. These sets, made in the solid, are sometimes marked with a hammer and sickle. Production of these sets has resumed since the end of the Cold War. See Gareth Willaims, Master Pieces, Apple Press 2000, page 97, and Chess; East and West, Past and Present The Metroplitan Museum of Art, New York, 1968.