German, 14th century

private collection, Hamburg

Hamburg, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Schachpartie durch Zeiten und Welten, 2005, no. 34
Berlin, Museum of Islamic Art, The game of chess, 2006

H. Holländer and B. Holländer, Schachpartie durch Zeiten und Welten, exh. cat. Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, 2005, no. 34
C.-P. Haase, 'The game of chess - an exhibition in the Museum of Islamic Art, State Museums in Berlin', Chess Collectors International. 12th Convention Program, Berlin, 2006, fig. 16

Overall the condition of the ivory is good with minor dirt and wear to the surface consistent with age and handling. There is minor splitting to the ivory consistent with material, including to the sides of the head. There are a few small losses, including to the pinnacles of the crown and to the base. The king may have once had a sceptre.
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The present statuette is one of the most well-preserved and finely carved medieval chess pieces left in private hands. It is an important survival from an otherwise lost chess set: the white King. He is represented seated on a throne, wears a gem-set crown and holds the orbus cruciger. This guise is reminiscent of images of Holy Roman Emperors such as Charlemagne. As such, the piece doubles as a reflection of the balance of power in medieval society.

The game of chess originated in India, where its predecessor chaturanga was played for several millennia before it started evolving into the present game and was brought to Persia around the 6th century AD. Excavations of a shipwreck near Serce Limani, off the coast of Turkey, opposite Rhodes, unearthed eight wooden chess pieces together with glass coin wrights dating from circa 1025, indicating that the game had spread to other countries in the Mediterranean by the late 10^th to early 11^th century. The knowledge of the rules was more or less directly transferred, but the nomenclature and form of the pieces was adapted to reflect the Western hierarchy in the Middle Ages. The pil, an elephant, became the bishop and the Sjah, became the King.

The representation of the foremost chess pieces on the board soon evolved into two distinct groups: the figures were either represented enthroned or on horseback. The present piece is an excellent example of the former category. The enthroned type seems to have evolved from South Italian ivory sets made around circa 1100, one of which has survived in the Cabinet de Médailles of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. The concept spread rapidly; the earliest Northern European enthroned chess pieces, such as a King in the Nationalmuseet in Copenhagen, date to the 12^th century.

RELATED LITERATURE
D.M. Liddell, Chessmen, New York, 1937; V. Keats, Chessmen for collectors, London, 1985; B. Holländer, ‘Of Eastern origin. The game of chess’, Chess collectors international. 12^th Convention program, Berlin, 2006, unpaginated