Historic Chess Sets in Museum Collections

Chess pieces have been carved from ivory, rock crystal, glazed stonepaste and plain wood, and each set shows how its makers pictured the armies on the board. This gallery follows sets and single pieces now held by museums, in rough date order, from early Samarkand to the Bauhaus. Look for the moves hidden in the shapes: elephants that became bishops, chariots that became rooks, the abstract thrones and tusks of early Islamic sets and the worried queens of Lewis. Every photo shows a historic object in a museum's care. Modern novelty and themed retail sets are left out.