R - Metropolitan Museum of Art

62-65
Although the vast majority of the glass
produced in the Muslim world was made
into vessels of various types, the glassmaker's
craft was also employed to make
other kinds of objects. The final pages of
this history of Islamic glass are devoted
to four such applications: gaming pieces;
weights of several differentypes; architectural
decoration; and objects of personal
adornment.
62-65. Both the game of chess and that
of backgammon are Middle Eastern in origin.
The former, according to the Persian
poet Ferdowsin his epic Shah-nameh,
was invented in India, whence it was
brought by an envoy to the Persian court
during the reign of Khosrow I (531-78).
The envoy came with an ultimatum that
unless the Persians could name the
pieces and figure out the moves of
the game, India would not pay tribute.
A counselor to the shah saved the day by
recognizing that it was a game of war
between symbolic armies commanded
by the king and his vizier (queen, in
the West). Each army consisted of four
branches: chariotry (represented by the
rook, from the Persian rukh, or "castle");
elephant corps (bishop); cavalry (knight);
and infantry (pawn). The story concludes
with the same wise counselor journeying
to India to present his own invention, nard
(backgammon), which neither the rajah
nor his advisors could fathom.
The marvered-and-combed glass object
(no. 63) is definitely a chess piece,
either a king or a vizier; its shape is
variously interpreted as a throne, a stylized
seated human figure, or a ruler on a
throne atop an elephant's back. It is not
certain whether the other pieces illustrated
here were used for chess, backgammon,
or another board game,
however.
Gaming pieces are very difficulto
date. The forms of the various pieces in
the partial wooden chess set, datable to
the first half of the eleventh century,
found in the Serce Limani wreck are not
unlike those of the partial ivory set excavated
by the Museum at Nishapur that
was dated to the early ninth century. This
correspondence suggests that these
shapes may have been traditional, continuing
for centuries, but until other
groups that can be assigned firm dates or
provenances come to light, we must be
satisfied with a broad attribution for most
gaming pieces.