- Renaissance Set -
I normally don't go for this kind of fully figural set but I like this one. They can be too 'busy' and it can be difficult to identify the pieces. This set, by contrast, comes off as quite elegant. Pieces are distinct and easily identified yet similar enough to 'go together' in the same set, the mark of a successful chess set design. Figures appear to be wearing early Renaissance period clothing. Kings and Queens wear robes and crowns. Bishops are portrayed as "men" of some kind, not clergy and not jesters, perhaps Dauphins, princes, or advisors with their small coronets, perhaps German "runners," or messengers, suggesting the set may have come from central Europe. Knights are Sea-horses, again typical for central Europe. The oddest thing about this set is elephant rooks, though elephant rooks are certainly no stranger to European sets. Pawns are busts, each with a different grotesque face. My guess is this set is Swiss, though it be German or Italian, perhaps from the Black Forest area, and 19th or 20th century. Figures are linden wood with the black pieces stained. White bases are also linden. Black bases are European Walnut. It's hard to value such a set without knowing more about it, but if I had a conventional set with knights as well carved as these I'd be jumping for joy. A fully figural set with 32 carved statues instead of only 4 is altogether something else. As collector sets go, fully figural sets tend toward the high end (another reason I tend to avoid them.) That considered, as figural sets go, sets with 16 unique pawn faces like this one are considered a cut above sets with 16 identical pawns, even if exact duplication is a difficult carving skill. All that considered, I count myself incredibly lucky this set fell into my price range and into my collection. It's probably one of my best. Kings 3 inches. The pictures turned out alright. I hope you don't mind the canted angles too much. I'm not really *that* arty. Mostly it had to do with getting as much of the piece as possible in frame while keeping the camera close enough to the piece keep it in focus on 'closeup' mode. The piece fit in the frame better on the diagonal, etc... Here are the pictures:
Lindenwood Renaissance set.
White side.
Black side.
The game begins.
"Excuse me, sir, you're blocking my path."
"Neigh! glub, glub, glub, Neigh! glub, glub (I'm a sea-horse.)"
Infiltrating Bishop.
I quite fond of the carved braids in the White Bishops' hair.
The front of the Bishop.
Cavalry takes the field.
Infantry out front.
White King.
Back.
Detail.
Dark ruler surveys the battleground.
For me, there's something almost Biblical about the look of these Kings.
Front.
Back.
White Queen.
Back.
Black Queen.
Back.
Of course the evil Queen would be the pretty one.
White Bishops.
Carved braids.
Black Bishops wear simple pony tails, though I don't know if the picture shows it well, their hair is carved with a texture.
Black Bishop fronts.
It's like looking in a mirror.
White Knights depicted as sea-horses.
Mains and tails on opposite sides.
Fish tails.
Black Knights.
Manes on the same side; tails opposite, one facing up, one facing inward. (Both of the White tails face out.)
Black beauty.
Golden Steed.
Rooks are depicted as elephants. No complete trunk survives, though the one on the left seems to have most of his.
Black Rooks damaged the most. The leftmost elephant is missing the trunk and a tusk and it looks like someone drilled a hole where trunk should be to begin making a repair.
I originally thought this hole might be a sign these pieces were some kind of cast composite material as opposed to carved wood, but looking inside it's clear the piece itself is not hollow and the other broken trunks are clearly solid wood inside. I would like to get these touched up but my regular repair guy, Alan Dewey, won't take the set. Anyone know anyone?
Every Pawn a different face, these infantrymen have the most unfinished 'chip carving' style to them.
Some of them are quite grotesque.
I'm not sure these three aren't replacements as they're very similar to each other, a little rougher than the other pawns, and a little off color. It also appears as if they may have been rubbed with a black patina paint to make them appear older than they are. That or they're dirty and I'm paranoid.
This Pawn is quite a character.
Creepy Pawn.
This Pawn is perhaps Irish, or at least he may have more fight in him than some of the other pawns.
Smug Pawn.
"Grr... We should be moving forward!"
"Patience, lad. We must hold our ground."
Correct me if I'm wrong but these concentric circular marks on the bases suggest to me this set may even be earlier than the 19th century. At least they suggest the bases were turned on a very old lathe. The Queen on the right seems to have been chipped and repaired.
Renaissance set.