A FATIMID ROCK CRYSTAL CHESS PIECE, EGYPT, 11TH CENTURY

Carved with deep bevel-cut foliate designs and incised dash details. Height 4 cm.CATALOGUE NOTE The present lot is a rare example of Fatimid rock crystal carving and an interesting addition to the existing corpus of rock crystal gaming pieces of the period. The game of chess, which can be traced back through archaeological evidence to the second or third century, spread from the Indian subcontinent through Persia to centres such as Baghdad and Cairo, from where the present chess piece most probably originates. It can be attributed either to the Abbasid or Fatimid Caliphates as it shares a number of stylistic and technical features with examples of similar gaming pieces now in various museum collections. A particularly close example in shape, style and size is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. no. 669:1, 2-1883). Described as “probably a king", it gives an indication of the present piece’s original place on the chessboard.