Chessmen (32) and box-board

Design attributed to Andreas Schluter, Danzig and the Court of Berlin
Friederich Donaleitis

Not on view

The pieces and the board they came with were probably made by Friederich Donaleitis of Königsberg in 1778 from a seventeenth-century prototype. The bases are boldly engraved with numbers from 1 to 32 on the underside. It has been thought that the set represents the battle of Panormus (present-day Palermo), fought in 250 B.C. between the Romans under Metellus and the Carthiginians under Hasdrubal, but this is hypothetical. The subject of Romans and Barbarians was a popular one in all forms of art.

Chessmen (32) and box-board, Design attributed to Andreas Schluter, Danzig and the Court of Berlin, Silver, silver-gilt, German

This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Open Access

As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.

API

Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.