Gaming Pieces13th century

Not on view

Title: Gaming Pieces
Place Made: Egypt or Syria
Date Made: 13th century
Medium: Glass, marvered and combed thread decoration
Dimensions: Height: 7/8 in. (2.22 cm); Diameter: 11/16 in. (1.74 cm)
Credit Line: The Madina Collection of Islamic Art, gift of Camilla Chandler Frost
Accession Number: M.2002.1.516a-c
Classification: Glass
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: According to legend, chess was introduced to Iran from India in the sixth century AD and spread throughout the Islamic world after the seventh century. A strategic war game, it was made up of a king, his vizier (queen in the West), and four army branches: chariots (rook), elephants (bishop), cavalry (knight), and infantry (pawn). These small round glass pieces may be pawns. Glass pieces of different shapes, such as a king, but of similar style exist in other collections.
Selected Bibliography: Lo Terrenal y lo Divino: Arte Islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Ángeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015.
Komaroff, Linda. Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016.

Not on view

Title: Gaming Pieces
Place Made: Egypt or Syria
Date Made: 13th century
Medium: Glass, marvered and combed thread decoration
Dimensions: Height: 7/8 in. (2.22 cm); Diameter: 11/16 in. (1.74 cm)
Credit Line: The Madina Collection of Islamic Art, gift of Camilla Chandler Frost
Accession Number: M.2002.1.516a-c
Classification: Glass
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: According to legend, chess was introduced to Iran from India in the sixth century AD and spread throughout the Islamic world after the seventh century. A strategic war game, it was made up of a king, his vizier (queen in the West), and four army branches: chariots (rook), elephants (bishop), cavalry (knight), and infantry (pawn). These small round glass pieces may be pawns. Glass pieces of different shapes, such as a king, but of similar style exist in other collections.
Selected Bibliography: Lo Terrenal y lo Divino: Arte Islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Ángeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015.
Komaroff, Linda. Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016.