Austrian "Biedermeier" Coffeehouse Chess Set, ca. 1820-1840
Austrian "Biedermeier" Coffeehouse Chess Set, ca. 1820-1840
Austrian Coffeehouse Chess Set in the Biedermeier style, made from boxwood, one side ebonised, the other left natural. Kings with double galleries, Queens with single galleries. Kings and Queens with elongated ball finials. Knights as horses' heads, Bishops with caps and alternate coloured ball finials at the side, Rooks as turrets with alternate coloured ball finials.
Chessmen like these, made in the Biedermeier period (ca. 1815-1848), were the standard playing sets in Austrian coffeehouses for at least half a century, before the more robust "Old Vienna" style came into fashion.