LEWIS CHESS PIECES

Original Chess Pieces in the British Museum - Please see Large.

The following information is extracted from an article found on www.britishmuseum.org

The chess pieces were found in the vicinity of Uig on the Isle of Lewis some time before 11 April 1831. The precise find spot seems to have been a sand dune where they may have been placed in a small, drystone chamber.

These chess pieces form a remarkable group of iconic objects within the world collection of the British Museum. They were probably made in Trondheim, Norway, about AD 1150-1200. At this period, the Western Isles, where the chess pieces were found, were part of the Kingdom of Norway, not Scotland. It seems likely they were buried for safe keeping on route to be traded in Ireland.

The chess pieces testify to the strong cultural and political connections between the kingdoms of the British Isles and Scandinavia in the Middle Ages, and to the growing popularity within Europe of the game of chess, the origins of which lie in India after around 500 BC. Chess arrived in Christian Europe via the Islamic world, where the game was adapted to reflect medieval European society.

Of the ninety-three pieces of this hoard known to us today, eleven pieces are in Edinburgh at the National Museum of Scotland, and eighty-two are in the British Museum. The hoard consists of chess pieces made from of elaborately worked walrus ivory and whales' teeth in the forms of seated kings and queens, bishops, knights on their mounts, standing warders and pawns in the shape of obelisks. The chessmen represent the social hierarchy and convey the qualities and status of those represented through their dress and gestures. The hoard also includes 14 ‘tablemen’ gaming pieces and a buckle.

It is possible that they originally belonged to a merchant travelling from Norway to Ireland. This seems likely since there are enough pieces - though with some elements missing – to make four sets.