| This Charlemagne chess set is hand painted in Rosewood and Ivory and comes packed in individual boxes and foam protection for each color. This is a reproduction of the original set now in National museum in Paris. The story goes that it was made for King Charlemagne of France, but he never learned to play chess. The original pieces were found in St Denis Abbey in France. The set was dated 11th Century and was made in Salerne, south Italy. Note that in 11th Century, Chess was an Arabic game, hence the traditional Arabic pieces i.e Rook [Chariot] and Bishop [Elephants] which is also similar to Chinese Chess (Xiang Qi). The Europeans changed them to present day chess pieces. The bottoms are felted. Kings are 3.5" in height with a base of 1-7/8". This set is suitable for a 18 inch board with 2 inch squares. Chess board is not included. All pieces were cast in Hydrostone (a trademark of the United States Gypsum Corporation), a reconstituted stone material used by sculptors. The pieces were hand-painted to resemble aged ivory, given several coats of acrylic varnish, and then coated with a museum-grade paste wax to enhance their appearance and feel. |
