Figure of an elephant, possibly a chessman

Figure of an elephant, possibly a chessman

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This figure represents a striding elephant. Its rear left leg is raised slightly, and the other three alternate forward and back to create the impression of movement. All four feet are attached to a flat base. Its body is pill-shaped, and its head and ears are realistically modeled. The triangular ears suggest that this is an Asian, rather than African, elephant. Its trunk, with many incised wrinkles, is curled up in front of the mouth. The tusks are missing; presumably they were originally inlaid. The elephant wears a beaded necklace. A circular socket is cut in the elephant’s back, perhaps to hold a separate figure of a rider. The figure probably dates to the 6th or 7th century A.D., on account of its resemblance to the elephants depicted in the massive reliefs at Taq-e Bostan near Kermanshah, Iran. The reliefs, commissioned by the Sasanian Persian king Khusrau II (reigned A.D. 591-628), show hunting scenes, in which elephants are flushing out game. This elephant figure may in fact be an early chess piece. Chess is first mentioned in a Middle Persian text from the Sasanian Empire, which tells the story of how the king of India sent the game of chess to the king of Persia, with the challenge to figure out how it was played. A man named Wuzurg-Mihr figured out the rules to the game, and explicitly identified one of the pieces, now known as the bishop, as an elephant. Most early chess sets have abstract pieces that do not look like their namesakes, but this piece may be an exception. Indeed, the size of the elephant suggests that it would have been part of an unusually large chess set.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Figure of an elephant, possibly a chessmanFigure of an elephant, possibly a chessmanFigure of an elephant, possibly a chessmanFigure of an elephant, possibly a chessmanFigure of an elephant, possibly a chessman

The Met's Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art cares for approximately 7,000 works ranging in date from the eighth millennium B.C. through the centuries just beyond the emergence of Islam in the seventh century A.D. Objects in the collection were created by people in the area that today comprises Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean coast, Yemen, and Central Asia. From the art of some of the world's first cities to that of great empires, the department's holdings illustrate the beauty and craftsmanship as well as the profound interconnections, cultural and religious diversity, and lasting legacies that characterize the ancient art of this vast region.