Charlemagne chessmen

A king from the Charlemagne chessmen, photographed by the Bibliothèque nationale de France Up close the king is a piece of architecture. He sits bearded and robed under a curtained arch, flanked by two small attendants holding back the drapes, inside a crenellated ivory frame. The tallest pieces in the set reach about 15 cm, and the detail rewards a slow look: the drilled dots along the frame, the folds of the robe and the patient faces of the two guards.