A RUSSIAN WALRUS IVORY CHESS SET

In 1670 Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov commissioned ten chess sets from Kholmogory ivory carvers, (see I.M.Linder, The Art of Chess Pieces, 1994, page 78-79), and there after the demand among the aristocrats in Russia for the export of chess sets carved in walrus ivory continued to thrive throughout the 18th, 19th and into early 20th centuries. The sets reflect both the Eastern and Western influences upon this school of carving, with the white side illustrated by Greek or Roman commanders opposing Eastern warriors. The bishop and rook represent the Russian names for those particular pieces, the elephant and ship.