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Notes
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The legendary Sasanian vizier Buzurgmihr is credited with introducing chess to the Iranian world in the sixth century. Figural chessmen are known from eighth-century Nishapur, but in other parts of Islam this tradition did not persist. Gaming pieces were not always small: the Mughal emperor Akbar marked out a board for pachisi (a form of Ludo) in his palace of Fatehpur Sikri near Agra, on which the pieces were played by his courtiers. This figure is identified on the brim of his hat as Sultan Tughril, and dated 538 AH (1143–1144). The piece is evidently a king, but the choice of the name and the date are puzzling, for the latter refers neither to the reign of any sultan called Tughril nor to the date when the piece was made. However, the twelfth-century historian Ravandi's account of the reign of the Great Seljuk Sultan Tughril II (reigned 1132–1134) cites a prescription for victory on the battlefield: 'Like a chess-player one has to observe the enemy's moves as well as one's own', and the date of the piece falls within the reign of Tughril's brother, Mas'ud, who ousted him after a bloody struggle.
Title
Chess Piece in the Form of a Seated Man
Date
late 13th C
Medium
stonepaste ware, painted black under a colourless glaze, partly stained turquoise & cobalt blue
Accession number
222
Work type
Ceramic