Lewis chessmen

The Lewis chessmen ( ) or Uig chessmen, named after the island or the bay where they were found, are a group of distinctive 12th-century chess pieces, along with other game pieces, most of which are carved from walrus ivory. Discovered in 1831 on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, they may constitute some of the few complete, surviving medieval chess sets, although it is not clear if a single complete period-accurate set can be assembled from the pieces. When found, the hoard contained 94 objects: 78 chess pieces, 14  tablemen (pieces for backgammon or similar games) and one belt buckle. Today, 82 pieces are owned and usually exhibited by the British Museum in London, and the remaining 11 are at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh; at least one chess piece is owned privately.

A newly identified piece, a "warder", the equivalent of a rook, was sold for £735,000 in July 2019. Four other major pieces, and many pawns, remain missing from the chess sets.

Origin

Most accounts have said the pieces were found at Uig Bay () on the west coast of Lewis, but Caldwell et al. of National Museums Scotland consider that Mealista () – which is also in the parish of Uig and some further south down the coast—is a more likely place for the hoard to have been discovered. The hoard was divided and sold in the 19th century; the British Museum holds 82 pieces, and the National Museum of Scotland has 11 pieces, and the recently rediscovered piece is owned privately.

At the British Museum, F. Madden, Assistant Keeper of Manuscripts, persuaded the trustees to purchase for 80 guineas (£84) the 82 pieces which he had been misled into believing was the entire hoard. Madden was a palaeographer, a scholar of early vernacular literature, but he was especially intrigued by these artifacts because he was a chess enthusiast. Madden immediately began writing a research paper about the collection; the paper remains informative today.

There are many medieval chess bishops of various origins in different museums in Europe and US.

Description

Almost all of the pieces in the collection are carved from walrus ivory, with a few made instead from whale teeth. The 79 chess pieces consist of 8  kings, 8 queens, 16 bishops, 15 knights, 13  warders (rooks) and 19  pawns. The heights of the pawns range from 3.5 to 5.8 cm ( to while the other pieces are between 7 and 10.2 cm ( and 4 in). Although there are 19 pawns (a complete set requires 16), they have the greatest range of sizes of all the pieces, which has suggested that the 79 chess pieces might belong to at least five sets. All the pawns are smaller, geometric shapes – cylinders and "tombstones" – perhaps intended to resemble boundary markers. All the pieces in the back rank are sculptures of human figures: The knights are mounted on rather diminutive horses and are shown holding spears and shields. The rooks are standing soldiers or "warders" holding shields and swords; four of the rooks are shown as wild-eyed berserkers biting their shields with battle fury. Some pieces bore traces of red stain when found (which has since vanished), possibly indicating that red and white were used to distinguish the two sides, rather than the black and white generally used in modern chess.

Scholars have observed that, to the modern eye, the figural pieces, with their bulging eyes and glum expressions, have a distinctly comic character. This is especially true of one rook ("warder 4" in Madden's numbering) with a worried, sideways glance and the berserker rooks biting their shields, which have been called "irresistibly comic to a modern audience". It is believed, however, that the comic or sad expressions were not intended or perceived as such by the makers, who instead saw strength, ferocity, or in the case of the queens who hold their heads with a hand and seemingly pensive expression, "contemplation, repose, and possibly wisdom".

Moreover, a recent article has examined how one of the king pieces projected a racialised representation of the archetypal chess king. Chess pieces envisioned human bodies which were constantly re-imagined and re-interpreted in the medieval period, and the Lewis chess king is fittingly characterised by a beard, hairstyle, and facial features that would not stand out in twelfth-century Norway, the supposed origin point of the set.

Discovery

The chessmen were discovered in early 1831 in a sandbank at the head of Uig Bay on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. There are various local stories concerning their arrival and modern discovery on Lewis.

Malcolm "Sprot" MacLeod () from the nearby township of Pennydonald discovered the trove in a small stone kist in a dune, exhibited them briefly in his byre and sold them on to Captain Roderick Ryrie. One reported detail, that a cow actually unearthed the stash, is generally discounted in Uig as fabrication. After the Isle of Lewis was purchased by J. Matheson in 1844, Malcolm MacLeod and his family were evicted during the Highland Clearances which transformed the area into sheep farms.

When the chessmen were uncovered in 1831, 1 knight and 4 warders were missing from the four sets. In June 2019 a warder piece, which had previously gone unrecognised for at least 55 years, emerged in Edinburgh, and was purchased at a Sotheby's auction for £735,000 the following month, by an undisclosed buyer.

Exhibition and ownership

They were exhibited by Ryrie at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, on 11 April 1831. The chessmen were soon after split up, with 10 being purchased by C.K. Sharpe and the others (67 chessmen and 14  tablemen) purchased on behalf of the British Museum in London.

C.K. Sharpe later found another bishop to take his collection up to 11, all of which were later sold to Baron Londesborough. In 1888, they were again sold, but this time the purchaser was the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, who donated the pieces to the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh. The 11 are now on display in the National Museum of Scotland.

Of the pieces given to the British Museum, most can be found in Room 40, with the registration numbers M&ME 1831, 11–1.78–159. Others have been lent to Scottish museums and temporary exhibitions.

A range of wooden or plastic replicas are popular items in the Museum shops.

The chessmen were number 5 in the list of British archaeological finds selected by experts at the British Museum for a 2003 BBC documentary. They were one of the items featured in a 2010 Radio 4 historical series.

An exhibition entitled "The Lewis Chessmen: Unmasked" included chess pieces from both the National Museum of Scotland and British Museum collections, along with other relevant objects, touring Scotland in 2010–2011. The exhibition opened in Edinburgh on 21 May 2010 and proceeded to Aberdeen, Shetland, and the Museum nan Eilean in Stornoway, opening there on 15 April 2011.

An exhibition entitled "The Game of Kings: Medieval Ivory Chessmen from the Isle of Lewis" at The Cloisters in New York City included 34 of the chess pieces, all on loan from the British Museum. The exhibit lasted through 22 April 2012.

On 3 April 2013, £1.8 million from the European Regional Development Fund was granted to transform Lews Castle, Isle of Lewis, into a museum for the Western Isles. Around £14 million in total is to be spent on restoring and converting the property, which has been shuttered for nearly 25 years. When completed the permanent displays will include 6 Lewis chessmen.

The Edinburgh warder piece was displayed in a special exhibit at the Neue Galerie New York in 2023, as part of a special exhibit.

Dispute over location

In in late 2007, a dispute arose as to where the main resting place of the pieces should be. There were calls from Scottish National Party politicians in the Western Isles (notably Councillor Annie Macdonald, Alasdair Allan MSP and Angus MacNeil MP) for the return of the pieces to the place they were found. Linda Fabiani, Scottish Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture, stated that "it is unacceptable that only 11 Lewis chessmen rest at the National Museum of Scotland while the other 67 (as well as the 14 tablemen) remain in the British Museum in London."

Richard Oram, Professor of Medieval and Environmental History at the University of Stirling, agreed, arguing that there was no reason for there to be more than "a sample" of the collection in London. These views were dismissed by Margaret Hodge, the then UK Minister of State in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, writing "It's a lot of nonsense, isn't it?", noting that the law protects purchases and drawing comparisons to major artworks in Europe housed in major cities, with replicas often available ''in situ'' where tourism is sufficient. The historical society in Uig, ''Comann Eachdraidh Ùig'', which operates its museum near the find site, features detailed information about the chessmen and Norse occupation in Lewis. It has published that it cannot claim to own the pieces and would allow the normal museum market to determine whether more originals should rest in Edinburgh. It welcomes short-term loans.

In October 2009, 24 of the pieces from London and 6 from Edinburgh began a 16 month tour of Scotland, partly funded by the Scottish Government, whose Mike Russell, Minister for Culture and External Affairs, stated that the Government and the British Museum had "agreed to disagree" on their eventual fate. Bonnie Greer, the museum's deputy chairman, said that she "absolutely" believed the main collection should remain in London.

Neil MacGregor, who at the time of the debate was director of the British Museum, was reported to say that it was Norway who was entitled to ask for them back, not Scotland. M. Bunting writes that:
: "the British Museum has picked its way carefully and 6 of the figures were loaned long-term to Lewis's new museum in 2015".

File:NMSLewisChessmen29.jpg, Selection of chessmen at NMS
File:NMSLewisChessmen28.jpg, King and Queen at NMS
File:NMSLewisChessmen2.jpg, Face of a ‘berserker’ warder (rook) and profile of an ordinary warder at NMS
File:UigChessmen SelectionOfPieces.jpg, Row of bishops at the back and then knights, among a selection pieces on display at BM
File:NMSLewisChessmen14.jpg, Knight on a stout pony
File:NMSLewisChessmen26.jpg, Decoration carved on back of a queen's throne at BM
File:Lewis Chessmen.jpg, King and queen, with ‘berserker’ warder (rook) and knight behind them, at BM

Footnotes

See also

* Charlemagne chessmen

References

Sources

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External links

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The British Museum's page on the chessmen

National Museums Scotland's pages on the chessmen

A History of the World in 100 Objects, Number 61: The Lewis Chessmen

A Website dedicated to the Lewis chessmen, their form and history

Sketchfab: 3D models of the chess pieces at National Museum of Scotland

{{Authority control

Archaeological artifacts
Archaeology of Scotland
Chess in Norway
Chess in Scotland
Chess sets
Collection of National Museums Scotland
History of chess
History of the Outer Hebrides
Ivory works of art
Isle of Lewis
Medieval European objects in the British Museum
Scandinavian Scotland
Romanesque art
Treasure troves in Scotland
Medieval chess
12th century in Scotland
1831 archaeological discoveries