An unusual back view of a king piece from the Lewis chessmen,

an 11 or 12c chess piece from a collection of 93 pieces found

on the Isle of Lewis in 1831 !o one has ever e"plained wh#
there were no complete sets among this group $owever the
elaborate carving of even the backs of the pieces would
indicate the# were destined for the table of a %ing or other
person of high standing
&nderstanding chess pieces, in
relation to their historical conte"t
'he changes in chess set design over the #ears, from sa#, the
1( centur# to toda# cannot be understood without first
considering the peoples who would have used these pieces and
something of their cultural e"pectations, mores and knowledge
base
)e must never loose sight of the fact that these endlessl#
fascinating ob*ects are merel# a means to an end, or to put it
another wa#, a mere mnemonic, which stand to represent the
game at the present point in time
'he pieces used for serious pla# should fade into the
background of the pla#ers consciousness faithfull# recording
the +now+ for when he returns from his mental perambulations
into the possible, the unlikel#, and the probable
'his then must have been one of the foremost purposes of
,ohn ,a-ues 1, !athaniel .ooke and $oward /taunton when
the# launched the now famous ,a-ues /taunton pattern chess
set design
however I have dealt with their motives in another document
'he above picture is of a rook piece from an 11 centur#
chess set, decorativel# carved but the form shows the
s#mbolism of the period
It ma# have been from a set used for pla#
It is not possible for us toda# to *udge if this st#le of
set with heav# carving was of a t#pe often used for
regular pla#, but considering the long light evening
hours in the higher latitudes, when the tasks of the da#
had been completed, the decoration of a chess set b#
chip carving, particularl# if an opponent was
unavailable, would seem a likel# pastime
'his earl# set, although having considerable vertical
decorative carving ma# well have been used for actual
pla#
It does not have the look of a +presentation+ set or
something made to impress the recipient
$ere above is a wood turner making a chess set in the
local 0uslim st#le 0uch has been said about the
0uslim sets not having figural representations of real
animals or people, this is clearl# not the case above
1/ee horse figure2
)e must think of the circumstances surrounding the
sets we are stud#ing, the pla#ers , their education and
cultural mores, otherwise we will be *udging them b#
21st centur# standards and no doubt will miss a lot
$istor# has also dealt us a cruel blow b# saving for
posterit# onl# a ver# small proportion of sets from this
earl# period, most of which are not representative of
the sets in use b# the regular pla#ers of the time
'hese sets were for the most part, consigned to the
scrap heap and rubbish dump
Alan 3ewe#1c2