Rare chess piece featuring the King (of the white game?) in - Lot 64

Lot n° 64
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Estimation :
6000 - 8000 EUR
Rare chess piece featuring the King (of the white game?) in - Lot 64
Rare chess piece featuring the King (of the white game?) in fruitwood carved in the round and polychromed. Depicted as a horseman holding a scepter in one hand, his right foot resting on a recumbent dragon turning its mouth threatening; he is crowned with a Germanic-type crown set on medium-length hair; guilloche terrace. Germany, mid-16th century H. 5.3 - L. 3.9 cm (small accidents and missing parts) Books consulted - Exhibition Munich - Nuremberg 1988, Schönes Schach, Bayerischen Nationalmuseum - Germanischen Nationalmuseum, cat 10, p. 24-25. - Rheydt 1994 exhibition, Mit Glück und Verstand, Museum Schloss, cat. C 22 and C 23, p. 154-155. There are several examples of these chess-playing horse figures made in Germany during the 16th century. They were mounted on a turned base, as can be seen in a series at the Rijksmuseum (inv. BK-NM-7402, fig. a). The King, like Saint George, is depicted as here on horseback trampling a dragon, as a Christian king triumphing over Evil. Other series can also be seen at the Bayerischen Nationalmuseum (inv. R 221 and R 777-808), and a piece very similar in age is in a private collection (fig. b).
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