English "Upright" Bone Chess Set, mid/late 19th century

English "Upright" Bone Chess Set, mid/late 19th century

This English bone chess set, which was probably made in the second half of the  19th century, shows a very interesting variation of the "Upright" pattern. One side is natural, the opposing side stained red. All pieces on elongated stems. The kings with a broad crown and an elongated cross finial, the queens with large spherical heads topped by a substantive ball finial, the knights as carved horses' heads, the bishops with a rather small head with split mitres, the rooks with five crenellations, the pawns with an unusual long and slim stem and ball finials. King size is 95mm (ca. 3.75"). All pieces have green felts underneath, which is a bit unusual for 19th century bone sets.

This type of Upright set is not unknown, yet relatively rare. This one here is a plain type. There is also a version, in which the chessmen, while having the same shape, are more ornamented. Peter Armit wrote an interesting article on "Uprights" published in Vol. XXIX No. 3 November 2020, p. 9 et seq. in which he showed some nice examples of this particular type of Uprights.
Share by: