Chessmen (32)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The same general facial characteristics appear on the white king, queen, and fou, and—most consistently—on the pawns, who are said to represent the Chevalier de Boufflers (1736–1815), governor of Senegal from 1785 to 1788. The animal heads of the knights resemble camels rather than horses and have half-figures riding as though at the base of the curving neck. The other principal pieces are similar on the two sides, except for the earrings and cropped hair on the African side. The rooks are incised and cut to suggest brickwork and crenelations. They and the stands are possibly of French manufacture, added to imported carved pieces made to order from a French model.

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