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EXTREMELY RARE ANCIENT EARLY ISLAMIC BONE CHESS PIECE

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Coins: Ancient Start Price:500.00 USD Estimated At:1,000.00 - 1,500.00 USD
EXTREMELY RARE ANCIENT EARLY ISLAMIC BONE CHESS PIECE
AN EXTREMELY RARE ANCIENT EARLY ISLAMIC UMAYYAD BONE OR ALABASTER CHESS PIECE, Circa 7th-9th Century. Extremely Rare and Extremely Fine Piece . Probably Umayyad Caliphate or early abbasid period. Chess was one of the most popular games of Abbasid Baghdad, from where it spread across the Islamic world and into Europe via Norman Sicily. Early chess sets had two distinct forms: figural and abstract. The present lot falls into the latter group and almost certainly represents a knight. For a discussion of Islamic gaming pieces, see Anna Contadini, "Islamic Ivory Chess Pieces, Draughtsmen and Dice" in James Allan (ed.), Islamic Art in the Ashmolean. Oxford Studies in Islamic Art, Vol. X, Part One, Oxford 1995, pp. 111-54.