Chess came to Spain from Islamic lands and quickly gained popularity among people of all faiths. An elite secular activity, chess and its rules and strategies were likely first shared in princely courts, where high-ranking Muslims, Jews, and Christians regularly came into contact. Most medieval Islamic chess pieces were abstract, though figural pieces, such as this rukh (rook) in the form of two riders, do survive.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Chess Piece, Rook
Date:11th–12th century
Geography:Attributed to Western Islamic Lands
Medium:Ivory; carved
Dimensions:H. 1 3/4 in. (4.5 cm) W. 3/4 in. (1.9 cm)
Classification:Gaming pieces
Credit Line:Purchase, Rogers Fund and Mr. and Mrs. Jerome A. Straka Gift, 1974
Object Number:1974.207
Chess Piece, Rook
This armed horse and rider with shield and sword is a knight or perhaps a rukh (rook). Figural pieces such as this represent a minority within the Islamic world, although a group dating to the seventh century was excavated at Afrasiab (Samarquand).
[Asia Society 2004]
Chess Piece
The game of chess, of Indian origin (according to tradition) and imported into Iran in the Sasanian period, enjoyed enormous popularity in Islamic realms, whence it was transmitted to Europe.
Although few early chess pieces survive, the extant material indicates that representational and abstract types existed side by side from early on. Here we see an example of an early phase. The horses and figures are sufficiently abstracted to be incorporated in a compact form but despite the piece's worn condition, it can be seen that it portrayed most of the essential details. Considerably more abstract pieces of about the same period were excavated by the Metropolitan at Nishapur in the 1930s; whereas a knight roughly contemporaneous with this one in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich is far more realistic.
Manuel Keene in {Berlin 1981]
[ Saeed Motamed, Frankfurt, until 1974; sold to MMA]
New York. Asia Society. "Asian Games: The Art of Contest," October 14, 2004–January 18, 2005, no. 12:19.
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. "Asian Games: The Art of Contest," February 26, 2005–May 15, 2005, no. 12:19.
Middlebury College Museum of Art. "Asian Games: The Art of Contest," September 8, 2005–December 11, 2005, no. 12:19.
Los Angeles. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts," June 5, 2011–September 5, 2011, no. 122.
Houston. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts," October 23, 2011–January 15, 2012, no. 122.
Doha. Museum of Islamic Art, Doha. "Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts," March 21, 2012–June 2, 2012, no. 122.
New York. The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Spain, 1000–1200: Art at the Frontiers of Faith," August 30, 2021–January 30, 2022.
"Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York." In The Arts of Islam. Berlin, 1981. no. 12, pp. 50–51, ill. (b/w).
Fahid, Deborah Freeman. Chess and Other Games Pieces from Islamic Lands. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2018. p. 297.
Carboni, Stefano. "Chessmen in the Department of Islamic Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Scacchi e Scienze Applicate suppl. no. 7, fasc. 15 (1996). p. 2, ill. (b/w).
Ali, Wijdan. The Arab Contribution to Islamic Art : From the Seventh to the Fifteenth Centuries. Jordan: The Royal Society of Fine Arts, Jordan, 1999. p. 111, ill. fig. 63 (b/w).
Mackenzie, Colin, and Irving Finkel, ed. Asian Games. The Art of Contest. New York: Asia Society, 2004. no. 12:19, p. 151, ill. (color).
Komaroff, Linda, ed. "The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts." In Gifts of the Sultan. Los Angeles; New Haven and London: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2011. no. 122, pp. 92–93, 253, ill. p. 92.
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