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Chessmen (32)

late 19th century
Not on view
The king, knights, and pawns are all warriors, the queen, a lady, and the bishops shaven priests. Exceptionally, there is no suggestion of a horse in the knights. The rooks consist of square towers surmounted by two incurving hornlike projections, which on Chinese and Japanese buildings are sometimes in the form of fish. These same details appear on the top of one of the towers borne by the elephants in another set, 48.174.160a–p, aa–pp (q.v.). The cutting of the ball element of the pedestals suggests the cutting common in Chinese ivory sets. The set was acquired in Shanghai between 1920 and 1939 and probably was made in Japan for Chinese re-export.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Chessmen (32)
  • Date: late 19th century
  • Culture: Japanese
  • Medium: Carnelian and white chalcedony
  • Dimensions: Height (queen): 2 13/16 in. (7.1 cm);
    Height (king): 3 in. (7.6 cm);
    Height (bishop): 2 1/2 in. (6.4 cm);
    Height (knight): 2 3/8 in. (6 cm);
    Height (rook): 2 5/16 in. (5.9 cm);
    Height (pawn): 2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm)
  • Classification: Chess Sets
  • Credit Line: Gift of Gustavus A. Pfeiffer, 1948
  • Object Number: 48.174.8a–p, aa–pp
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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