









|
Earliest extant Chess pieces have been found in Orient,
a term to be understood in its broader sense: Central Asia, Persia,
North of India, Mesopotamia, Near East, ...
Several isolated elder pieces are known but their identification
with Chess pieces remains subject of caution. They are displayed
here.
Figurative sets:
 Knight, Afghanistan
or Northern India. H: 5 cm, early 6th c. AD. (See more photographs here)
|

7 pieces set, ivory , dated
7 to 8th c., found at Afrasiab, near Samarkand,
Uzbekistan State Museum of Samarkand Earliest known
Chess pieces.
|

Isolated Knight found in Afrasiab, bone,
7 to 8th c?
|

Ivory piece most probably dated from
11th c but Linder thinks that 7 to 8th c is more accurate.
Found in Saqqizabad, Iran and very similar to the Vizier
of the Afrasiab set. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York. (Same piece on the line below)
|

|

|

|

|
 Fil (Elephant/Bishop), origine unknown
(Iran, Irak, India?), 7th-8th c.?, The Metropolitan
Museum of Art
|

Elephant, alabaster, Nishapur (Iran),
9th c., private collection (see an older similar from Kanauj here)
|

Chariot-rook(?) from Samarkand, 7-8th
c, ivory. (British Museum) |

There are other Chess pieces from the
same period and same origin which are very much alike
Afrasiab set. Christie's action house in London has
presented two pieces in April 1994. The first is a quadrige
with the driver missing and might represent a Chariot
or a King. The second one with only two horses might
be a Vizier (?)
|
Elephant with two riders is kept
by the Staatlichen Museums
für Islamische Kunst
in Berlin, ivory, 8th century (?)
|
  Elephant
leaning forward supporting a howdah on its back. Sold
in action at Sothebys in April 2007. Ivory, 9th-10th
century, Central Asia, Iran, Iraq (?)
|

Chess set found in 2006, probably coming
from Afghanistan
|

|
This
object has been found by Albert von Le Coq in ruin K
in Gaochang (=Chotscho) (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaochang) and reported in his account "Koeniglich Preussische
Turfan-Expeditionen"
published in 1913. (check for pages 217 & 218).
Gaochang is an ancient oasis of the Silk Road, 30km
southeast of modern Turpan in Xinjiang, today in China.
Along with that piece was found a Xiangqi Pao ! See it there. This
was an active Buddhist place from 5 to 7th centuries. |
 Rukh or Knight, origin unknown, 11th-12th
c., carved ivory The Metropolitan Museum of Art
|

Chess piece said to be a King from Egypt,
Islamic period. I agree with Manfred Eder who doubts
and draw attention to the resemblence with an Indian
piece (see
there)
|

Elephant said to be Byzantine art. Found
in Iraq, from 10th c. e Museo Bargello, Florence,
Italy
|
Abstract sets:
 Rock
crystal, 800 AD. Found at Basra, South Iraq.
|

Persian Bronze, 6th-7th AD.
|

|

|

|
Rook,
Western Islamic Lands, 7th-8th c., ivory, Pfeifer Fund,
The Metropolitan Museum
Of Art A design between
figurative and abstract! |
 Bishop,
Western Islamic Lands, 8th-10th c., ivory, Pfeifer Fund,
The Metropolitan Museum Of Art
|
-r.jpg) Rukh, Western Islamic Lands, 8th-10th
c., ivory The Metropolitan Museum Of Art
|
-r.jpg) Shah, Iran, 8th-10th c., carved jet
The Metropolitan Museum Of Art
|

Iranian Rook from Nishapur, 9th c.
|
 Knight, wood with inlay of bone or ivory,Egypt,
9-10th c. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für
Islamische Kunst
|

Chess piece (?) in glass, Lebanon, 10th c.
|

|

|

|
Chess
Pawn (?), Western Islamic Lands, glass, 8th-11th c.,
Pfeiffer Fund, The Metropolitan Museum Of Art |

Muslim King or Vizir, ivory 9th c.,
Monnaies, Médailles et Antiques (coll. Froehner,
n° 9043), Paris
|
 Chess piece, Egypt, 10-11th c
|
 King, ivory with inlays of lead, Sicily,
11-12th c. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für
Islamische Kunst
|

King or Vizir, ivory, Syria or Iran,
9-12th c. Private collection
|
 Rook, ivory, Syria or Iran, 9-12th c.
Private collection
|
 Chess piece, rock crystal, Egypt, 10-11th
c., Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für
Islamische Kunst
|
 Chess pieces, Egypt, 10-12th c. (British Museum)
|

Rook, said to be Byzantine art,
Museo Bargello, Florence, Italy
|

Large Persian terracotta
piece circa 1000 - 1100 A.D.
(A Vizir? Only remaining piece from this particular
set)
|

Rooks, green glazed pottery, Iran, private
collection
|

|
 Shah / Shah / Rukh / Fil
|
Nishapur
pieces, Tepe Madrasa, Iran, beg. 9th century ivory
with traces of green, The Metropolitan Museum Of Art. |
 Another Nishapur set, Iran, 12th century,
composite body, glazed unique almost complete set
from the Seljuk period The Metropolitan Museum of
Art
|

Rook, Egypt, Islamic period. (I can't
remember where I took this image but it looks very similar
to the Iraqian Rook here below)
|
 Shah, Egypt
or Syria, Mamluk period, 13th-14th c., glass The
Metropolitan Museum of Art
|

From a Byzantin wreck, wood?, Serçe
Limani, Anatolian coast (Turkey), 11th c.
|

Pawn, Shah, Vizir, Knights and Rook,
Arabic chess set, Rock-crystal and smoken topaz, 13th.c,
Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul, Turkiye |
|