SIXTEEN IVORY AND BONE CHESS AND OTHER GAMING...
SIXTEEN IVORY AND BONE CHESS AND OTHER GAMING PIECES
Possibly Egypt, 10th - 11th century
Comprising sixteen gaming pieces of differing forms, some cylindrical, some bulbous and some domical, their bodies variously decorated with incised bands, dots and circles, the smallest 2.5cm and the largest 3.5cm high.
Provenance: UK private collection since 1970s.
According to C. Wilkinson, the origin of chess seems to date back to the 6th - 7th century and finds its earliest roots in an Indian board game called chaturanga, also known as chatrang in the Sasanian period. Scholarship is still debating if the game of chess was introduced in Egypt by the Persians during the Sasanian king Khusrau II's reign (619 - 628) or a decade later by the Arabs, after the fall of the Persian Empire. Surely though, the game must have been so widely played in Persia to the point that some moves still retain to this day a Persian linguistic root, i.e. shah mat (Pers. the king is at a loss) is scacco matto in Italian and échec mat in French. Chess pieces excavated in Nishapur and dated to the 9th century showcase both stylised and animal shapes; on the contrary, those from Egypt and ascribed to the 10th - 12th century tend to be completely nonrepresentational, like our example (C. Wilkinson, Chess: East and West, Past and Present, a selection from the Gustav A. Pfeiffer Collection, New York, 1968, pp. X - XXX). A similar selection of early Islamic ivory gaming pieces was sold at Sotheby's, London, 9 October 2013, lot 101.
This item may require Export or CITES licences in order to leave the UK or the European Union. It is the buyer's responsibility to ensure that lots have the relevant licences before shipping.
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SIXTEEN IVORY AND BONE CHESS AND OTHER GAMING PIECES
Possibly Egypt, 10th - 11th century
Comprising sixteen gaming pieces of differing forms, some cylindrical, some bulbous and some domical, their bodies variously decorated with incised bands, dots and circles, the smallest 2.5cm and the largest 3.5cm high.
Provenance: UK private collection since 1970s.
According to C. Wilkinson, the origin of chess seems to date back to the 6th - 7th century and finds its earliest roots in an Indian board game called chaturanga, also known as chatrang in the Sasanian period. Scholarship is still debating if the game of chess was introduced in Egypt by the Persians during the Sasanian king Khusrau II's reign (619 - 628) or a decade later by the Arabs, after the fall of the Persian Empire. Surely though, the game must have been so widely played in Persia to the point that some moves still retain to this day a Persian linguistic root, i.e. shah mat (Pers. the king is at a loss) is scacco matto in Italian and échec mat in French. Chess pieces excavated in Nishapur and dated to the 9th century showcase both stylised and animal shapes; on the contrary, those from Egypt and ascribed to the 10th - 12th century tend to be completely nonrepresentational, like our example (C. Wilkinson, Chess: East and West, Past and Present, a selection from the Gustav A. Pfeiffer Collection, New York, 1968, pp. X - XXX). A similar selection of early Islamic ivory gaming pieces was sold at Sotheby's, London, 9 October 2013, lot 101.
This item may require Export or CITES licences in order to leave the UK or the European Union. It is the buyer's responsibility to ensure that lots have the relevant licences before shipping.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
