Chess set

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The set, which was made for playing, is representational. The king is a "Great King," here a seated figure. He has not a queen but a lieutenant general, also seated, with a small round shield in one hand. The elephant with rider (bishop) represents, as it did in the original Indian game, the elephant corps, and a horse and rider (knight) represents the cavalry. The pagoda-like structure is the chariot, or rook. The pawns are foot soldiers. Burmese sets are sometimes white and red, as well as green and red like this one.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art