Live Auction 8524Christie's Interiors - Style & Spirit
A CHINESE-EXPORT CARVED IVORY FIGURAL CHESS SET
Lot 511

A CHINESE-EXPORT CARVED IVORY FIGURAL CHESS SET

CANTON, MID-19TH CENTURY

Closed26 March 2013

Price Realised

GBP 15,000

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A CHINESE-EXPORT CARVED IVORY FIGURAL CHESS SET
CANTON, MID-19TH CENTURY
The white king and queen representing Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine, the red side representing a Chinese Emperor and Empress, the bishops as courtiers, the knights on horseback, the rooks as elephants surmounted by mahouts, the pawns as soldiers, one later associated, all mounted on foliate carved ball knopped bases
The king -- 5¾ in. (14.5 cm.) high; the pawn -- 2 7/8 in. (7.3 cm.) high
Together with an oak fitted box, with black velvet lining

Bonhams, Knightsbridge, 14 October 2008, lot 197.

Specialist note

Trade relations between China and England at the turn of the 19th Century were relatively calm but entered more turbulent times during the 1840-2 and 1860 Opium wars. This lead to China being more exposed to western traders and goods becoming more accessible for Westerners, chess sets were among those desired works of art. Most typically sets depicted Chinese Emperors in armour and sometimes Napoleon or other European Monarchs, such as George III. Roger Keverne, Ivory, A History and Collectors Guide, Thames and Hudson, 1987, page 260.