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Chess piece (Side)

Chess piece (Side)
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Subject
Secular.

Repository Institution
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Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum

Inv. Pl.O. 365

Walrus ivory

Height: 94mm
Width: 37mm
Depth: 57mm

Knight in armour on horseback; spear; sword; fourteen soldiers with crossbows.

Stafski 1965: German, 2nd quarter of the 15th century.


Attribution
Unknown

Reverse
Carved in the round.

Object Condition
Missing: part of the left hand of the knight; one of the warriors.
One of the warriors severely damaged; most legs of the warriors damaged or missing.
Surfaces of some of the warriors repaired. One of the warriors and a crossbow replaced with ivory; all the other parts are repaired with bone.

Provenance
Allegedly found in 1848 in the foundations of the fortress of Riedenburg (Upper Palatinate); Collection of Freiherr von Aufseß; acquired by the Museum before 1856.

Bibliography
H. Weininger, 'Über Zwei Angebliche Schachfiguren', in Mitteilungen der K.K. Central-Commission zur Erforschung und Erhaltung der Baudenkmale 15 (1870), pp. CXL-CXLI.
A. van der Linde, Geschichte und Litteratur des Schachspiels (Berlin, 1874), p. 315.
H. Bösch, Katalog der im germanischen Museum befindlichen Originalskulpturen (Nuremberg, 1890), no. 64.
W. Josephi, Kataloge des Germanischen Nationalmuseums Nürnberg. Die Werke plastischer Kunst (Nuremberg, 1910), no. 622.
W. F. Volbach, Die Bildwerke des Deutschen Museums, Die Elfenbeinbildwerke (Berlin, 1923), no. J 678, p. 51.
R. Berliner, Die Bildwerke des Bayerischen Nationalmuseums, IV. Die Bildwerke in Elfenbein, Knochen, Hirsch- und Steinbockhorn, mit einem Anhange: Elfenbeinarbeiten der Staatlichen Schlossmuseen in Bayern (Augsburg, 1926).
A. Goldschmidt, Die Elfenbeinskulpturen, 4 vols (Berlin, 1914-1926), IV (1926), p. 8.
M. Longhurst, Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2 vols (London, 1927 and 1929), II (1929).
H. and S. Wichmann, Chess: the Story of Chesspieces from Antiquity to Modern Times (New York, 1964), no. 63/65, pp. 34-35, 295-296.
R. Behrends, G. Pommeranz, Liedtke: Schachfiguren aus zehn Jahrhunderten (Frankfurt am Main, 1964).
H. Stafski, Kataloge des Germanischen Nationaslmuseums Nürnberg. Die mittelalterlichen Bildwerke, Pt. 1. Die Bildwerke in Stein, Holz, Ton und Elfenbein bis um 1450 (Nuremberg, 1965), pp. 237-238, no. 213.
Schach. Figuren und Spiel vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart, dir. S. Barten, exhibition catalogue, Zürich, Museum Bellerive, 15 September-14 November 1982, no. 6 (with fig.).
G. Himmelheber, U. Schneider, Schönes Schach. Die Spiele des Bayerischen Nationalmuseums in München und des Germanischen Nationalmuseums in Nürnberg, exhibition catalogue, Munich/Nuremberg, 1988, no. 6 (U. Schneider).
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), in relation to no. 247.


Image

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