Chessmen (32)

The design of the set follows European models but has been elaborated in such a florid way that the chessmen could not be used for play. The pieces are easily recognizable despite the elaboration and the Oriental touches in the rooks, with their rosebud domes and Indian arcades. The major pieces are versions of the "crow's-nest" type common in Europe in the sixteenth century, but which began even earlier. Normally the points of the serrations project upard, but here they curl over and hang downward. The king's crown is a representation of an English one, two crossed straps with an orb at the point of juncture, rising from crosses patté with fleur-de-lis between. A French set of the late eighteenth century illustrated in Hammond, the Book of Chessmen, pl. xxx, shows the type of which this is an Indian elaboration, made for British purchasers. The British pawns are soldiers presenting arms; the Indians are spearmen with swords and shields.