Imperial Chess

Hello to all forum members.

Are there any who collect antique chess sets?

The thing is that I got a figurine, it had been kept in the family for over 80 years. There was just a note "figurine from the set of Paul I". Then a person who plays chess saw the figurine and immediately said that it was a chess piece. After that, I specifically contacted a famous chess collector and he told me that this was a very rare 18th century "Vizier" figurine from the famous Kholmogory chess set. It turns out that the note meant that this figurine was from a chess set that belonged to Emperor Paul I. Then I started looking for information whether the chess sets were made for Paul I and it really says that several sets were made for the future Emperor Paul I.
But I did not find any photos of the chess sets themselves.

Maybe someone has information about this chess set?

I would be grateful for any information.

 

Are U a NEW MEMBER, just found this site,LOOK HERE 1st ....

we would be grateful , for some detailed photo's !!!

 

that belonged to Emperor.......

you'll need a wealth of provenance to prove that....

what evidence did the collector provide to back up his claim ?

did he offer to buy it ?

 

The collector did not say that the figurine belonged to Paul I. We just had a record that it was from Paul I's set. I didn't even know that it was from a chess set)) The collector said that we need to restore the history of the figurine's ownership. And he said that we need to find out that Paul the First had such a chess set...it turned out that several sets were made for him.

 

A certain number of sets were made in Kholmogory, but 90% of the sets had poor quality carving of the figures.

 

This is the Empress Catherine II set. Note the carving and proportions...completely different from the other sets. I would assume that this set was made by Osip Dudin, although this is not stated.

 

I attached photos of my figurine in the gallery without losing quality, since the photos take up a lot of space…

https://postimg.cc/gallery/Mf5RTGk

 

I think your query will only be solved with a dealer or specialist looking at it in the flesh. Interesting though!

 

is your Gallery on private..

 

I can see the photos, here are a couple of them.
There was no photo of the back provided.
I agree with the OP that their figure appears to be carved with more detail than the other examples they provided.

So, it seems your inquiry here is really to help you establish provenance, correct? You say you were able to find out that Paul I had several chess sets but you haven't been able to find any photos for comparison. Do you know where his chess sets are now? If they are in a museum or on display somewhere, perhaps you could email them for more info on your piece.

 

these guys are similar.....

 

There is a lot of information on the Internet that several sets of Kholmogory chess were made for Pavel. But I have not found a single photo of the chess that was ordered for Pavel... there is simply no information about this.

 

And no one knows where they are, maybe they are lost..

 

I think it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to establish that your piece came from a set belonging to Paul I of Russia, unless someone in your family has papers describing its history and how your family acquired it. Style alone would not be sufficient.

The style of sets made in Kholmogory, with one side represented as classical Roman or Greek soldiers and the other as Turks, was produced throughout the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. According to the "Lot Essay" from a 19th century set sold at Christies -"In 1670 Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov commissioned ten chess sets from Kholmogory ivory carvers, (see I.M.Linder The Art of Chess Pieces, 1994, page 78-79), and there after the demand among the aristocrats in Russia for the export of chess sets carved in walrus ivory continued to thrive throughout the 18th, 19th and into early 20th Centuries. The sets reflect both the Eastern and Western influences upon this school of carving, with the white side illustrated by Greek or Roman commanders opposing Eastern warriors. The bishop and rook represent the Russian names for those particular pieces, the elephant and ship."
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-4893684

Below is another 19th century set sold at Christies. Based on this, your piece appears to be a pawn.




https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5322132

Based on your photograph of the base of your piece, it does appear to be made of walrus tusk, which was typical for the Kholmogory sets.

When you have already done a lot of research, it is always helpful to provide us with links to some of your sources so that we can follow up.

 

Thank you for your reply. My figure is a vizier. The pawns are always different in size. Yes, the figure is carved from walrus tusk and it is the 18th century... the second half of the 18th century. Figures from the 18th and 19th centuries are different.

I have attached screenshots showing that chess was made for Pavel, there is a lot of information about this on the Internet.
I sent screenshots in the original without translation.

But there are no photos of the chess itself anywhere and I have not found anything about where it is.

 

For those of us who do not read Russian -

"The Russian tsars revered this ancient art. According to the minutes of the Supreme Privy Council, Empress Catherine I kept her personal belongings in two Kholmogory chests. It is reliably known that chess sets were repeatedly purchased from the Kholmogory carver Osip Dudin for the heir to the royal throne, Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich. In 1798, the royal couple Pavel I and Maria Feodorovna received from the carver N. S. Vereshchagin, who lived for long periods in both Arkhangelsk and St. Petersburg, a pair of cone-shaped vases, which are now kept in the State Hermitage.

The works of N. S. Vereshchagin exhibited features associated with the advent of the new artistic classicism. This is the strict graphic style of the carving era, the special elegance of the geometrical ornament in contrast to the whimsical curls of the Rococo. Lush colorfulness, as one of the features of the design of carved bone of the 18th century, gradually is replaced by the cold and strict beauty of the art of the next century. The shell-shaped curls typical of the Rococo style give way to a strictly patterned ornament, and the complex forms of the products of the Kholmogory carvers of the last century are replaced by simpler ones. It is Having become a first-class master, Osip Dudin followed in the footsteps of his fellow countryman and moved to St. Petersburg. Dudin earned his first money in the capital not without the help of Lomonosov. Mikhail Vasilyevich convinced the Academy of Sciences to buy a large mammoth tusk from the bone carver for laboratory research. Osip Dudin did not have to wait long for orders either - the advertisements placed in the "Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti" worked. The master made many masterpieces for high society. The heir to the throne, Pavel Petrovich, the future Emperor Paul I, played with his mammoth bone chess. Osip Dudin, commissioned by the Solovetsky Monastery, carved a cup into the ornament of which he mounted 58 medallions with portraits of Russian rulers, from Rurik to Catherine II. Later, already a 70-year-old elder, the master followed his masterpiece to the Solovetsky Monastery, retiring from worldly affairs and taking monastic vows.

The great Russian sculptor Fedot Ivanovich Shubin, the son of Lomonosov's first mentor, Ivan Shubny, also started out as a carver in Kurostrov. In 1759, again with a fish convoy, Fedot left for St. Petersburg. Lomonosov arranged for his fellow countryman to attend the Academy of Arts in the class of the French sculptor Gillet. Fedot Shubin graduated from the Academy with a Grand Gold Medal, after which he went to study in Paris and Rome.

The ideal image of Russian enlightenment in the 18th century is a symphony of the secular and the spiritual. However, at the end of the 19th century, Kholmogory carving fell into decline, and the last"


Note that this excerpt says "the future Emperor Paul I, played with his mammoth bone chess".

 

How tall is your figure? What examples are you using for comparison?

A Kholmogory set, dated 1800. The Vizier's spear projects above his shoulder. Walrus ivory. King 3 1/4" -


https://worldchesshof.org/program/encore-ivory-chess-treasures-from-the-jon-crumiller-collection/

 

A set dated 18th century, sold at Bonhams, king 8.3cm, pawns 6cm -


https://www.bonhams.com/auction/141...-russian-kholmogory-walrus-ivory-figural-set/