Danish Bone Chess Set by I.G. Schwartz & Søn, ca. 1830-1850

Danish Bone Chess Set by I.G. Schwartz & Søn, ca. 1830-1850

Danish chess set, one side natural, the other side stained red. The kings with double galleries, the queens with single gallery, both with beautiful rosette finials. Bishops with a brimmed cap and a feather finial. The knights as horses' heads. Rooks as massive turrets. The pieces are again based on the Selenus style and overall extremely filigree turned from bone. The height of the king is 9.2 cm.

That this set originates from the workshop of I.G. Schwartz & Søn is proven by the fact that fellow Danish collector Jonathan Herrik owns an identical set in the original box marked on the inside with the Schwartz name. The rosette finials remind of the carved ivory rosettes in the prayer chair at Frederiksborg Castle made by Johan Adam Schwartz in the golden age of the company in the middle of the 19th century.

For more information about the Schwartz workshop, please refer to my article "Small treasures from Copenhagen" published in The Chess Collector Vol. XXXII No1 March 2023.
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