Publication Date
4th-5th century/10th or 11th century
Publication Place
-
British Museum
Subject
ivory
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
الارتفاع 5.6 سم؛ القطر 5.1 سم
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
1862.8-9.2
Record ID
object;ISL;uk;Mus01;46;ar
Library Location
British Museum
Date
4th-5th century/10th or 11th century
Notes
A large, circular chess piece engraved with concentric circles, dots, and lines. This piece appears to have represented a king or vizier. The game of chess originated in India and reached Persia (Iran) during the Sasanian period in the first / sixth century. Arab entries in chess appeared in the middle of the third / nineteenth century, and from the Arab world, the game reached the West, where pieces were manufactured according to Islamic shapes. This piece appears to have been part of an impressive collection, and there is an almost identical piece to this piece in the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin. The Fatimids in Egypt encouraged the manufacture of luxury items from ivory, and after the Fatimids took control of Sicily in the early 4th / 10th century, the way was opened for Muslim craftsmen to travel to Sicily, which led to the transfer of the Fatimid style of painting and decoration to it, and it continued there even after the Normans took control of the island in 477 / 1085.
Sample Text
Emily Shovelton “Chess Piece” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;uk;Mus01;46;ar
