chess-piece

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Object Type
Museum number: 1881,0719.47
Description: Chess piece, made of ivory, carved, decorated with ring and dot designs infilled with traces of pigment; knight.
Cultures/periods
Production date: 10thC-11thC
Production place: Made in: Egypt (?); Made in: Sicily (?)
Materials
Technique: carved; painted
Dimensions: Diameter: 4.20 centimetres; Height: 5.50 centimetres
Curator's comments: Previously regarded as ca 8th-9th century in date.
Bibliographic references: Dalton 1909 / Catalogue of the Ivory Carvings of the Christian Era with Examples of Mohammedan Art and Carvings in Bone in the Department of British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography of the British Museum (228); Phillips 1996 / Africa: The Art of a Continent (7.49); Akbarnia et al 2018 / The Islamic World: a History in Objects (p.51, fig.3)
Location: On display (G42/dc12)
Exhibition history: Exhibited: 2012 - 2013 28 Nov - 18 Mar, Paris, Musee National du Moyen Age, 'Jeux de la Babylone antique a l'occident medieval'
Subjects
Acquisition name
Acquisition date: 1881
Department: Middle East
Registration number: 1881,0719.47

Free entry