El ajedrez llegó a España desde tierras islámicas y se popularizó con rapidez entre gentes de todas las confesiones. Este juego —una actividad secular propia de la élite— y sus reglas y estrategias se conocieron primero probablemente en las cortes nobles, en las que los contactos entre musulmanes, judíos y cristianos de alto rango eran frecuentes. La mayoría de las piezas de ajedrez islámicas eran abstractas, como este fil o elefante cilíndrico (un alfil en la tradición europea), aunque han sobrevivido algunas piezas figurativas, como este rukh (roque o torre) que representa a dos jinetes.
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 Islamic chess pieces were abstract, like this cylindrical fil, or elephant (a bishop in the European tradition), though figural pieces, such as this rukh (rook) in the form of two riders, do survive.
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Title:Chess Piece, Bishop
Date:8th–10th century
Geography:Attributed to Western Islamic Lands
Medium:Ivory
Dimensions:H. 3 9/16 in. (9 cm) D. 2 5/16 in. (5.9 cm)
Classification:Gaming pieces
Credit Line:Gift of Alastair B. Martin, 1949
Accession Number:49.36
Chess Piece, Bishop
The inlay appears to imitate vegetation and has been filled with black pigment.
[Asia Society 2004]
[ Raphael Stora, Paris]; Alphonse Kann, Paris (before 1926); Jakob Goldschmidt, Berlin; his sale, Helbing, Frankfurt, June 23, 1936, lot 28,; [ Stiebel Ltd., New York, until 1940, sold to Brummer]; [ Joseph Brummer, New York, 1940–48; sold to Martin]; Alastair Bradley Martin (American)(1948–49; gifted to MMA)
New York. Asia Society. "Asian Games: The Art of Contest," October 14, 2004–January 18, 2005, no. 12:26.
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. "Asian Games: The Art of Contest," February 26, 2005–May 15, 2005, no. 12:26.
Middlebury College Museum of Art. "Asian Games: The Art of Contest," September 8, 2005–December 11, 2005, no. 12:26.
New York. The Cloisters Museum & Gardens. "The Game of Kings: Medieval Ivory Chessmen from the Isle of Lewis," November 15, 2011–April 22, 2012, no catalogue.
New York. The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Spain, 1000–1200: Art at the Frontiers of Faith," August 30, 2021–January 30, 2022.
Goldschmidt, Adolph. Die Elfenbeinskulpturen aus der romanischen Zeit, XI.-XIII. Jahrhundert. Vol. 4. Berlin: Bruno Cassirer, 1926. p. 6, ill. 11.
McNab, Jessie. "A Selection from the Gustavius A. Pfeiffer Collection." In Chess: East and West, Past and Present. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1968. no. 5, ill.
Ettinghausen, Richard. "Islamic Art." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin vol. 33, no. 1 (Spring 1975). ill. p. 47 (b/w).
Bornstein, Christine Verzar, and Priscilla P. Soucek. The Meeting of Two Worlds: The Crusades and the Mediterranean Context. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Museum of Art, 1981. ill.
Fahid, Deborah Freeman. Chess and Other Games Pieces from Islamic Lands. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2018. p. 302.
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). ill. pp. 5–6 (b/w).
Mackenzie, Colin, and Irving Finkel, ed. Asian Games The Art of Contest. New York: Asia Society, 2004. no. 12:26, p. 155, ill. (color).
Perratore, Julia. "Spain 1000–1200." Art at the Frontiers of Faith (2021). p. 21, ill. fig. 24.
Dunn-Vaturi, Anne-Elizabeth, and Martina Rugiadi. "in: The Brummer Galleries, Paris and New York. Edited by Biro, Brennan and Force." In The Brummer Gallery and the Making of Iranian and Islamic Art, edited by Yaëlle Biro, Christine Brennan, and Christel Hollevoet-Force. Brill, 2023. p. 447.
Perratore, Julia. "Art at the Frontiers of Faith." Spain 1000–1200, n. s., vol. 79, no. 2 (Fall 2021). no. 24, p. 21, ill.
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