I came across this artwork on WideWalls online gallery with the associated text:
Tracey Emin – Chess Set, 2008. 32 pieces in bronze with patina, quilted-fabric chess board and cotton carrying case with yellow satin ties, fabric bag with drawstring, and corian and hallmarked silver brooch, the board and case with unique monotype elements in blue ink, with engraved signature and numbered AP 2/3 on the back of the brooch, one of three artist’s proof sets aside from the edition of seven, published by RS & A. Ltd., London, presented in a glass and wood exhibition display case. King 60 mm., Pawn 20 mm. Board 450 x 450 mm. Bag 220 x 240 x 150 mm. (approximately).
An experienced chess player, the often controversial British artist Tracey Emin created a unique traveling chess set. Featuring a soft, pliable sewn board and embroidered pouch, it alludes to the intricate needlepoint pillow chess boards which 18th-century French nobles used to play while traveling by carriage.
The piece, btw, was purchased by the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester UK for $25,000 in January 2010 "of which The Art Fund contributed £9,375. The work was placed on public display in the gallery on 15 January, presented in its own antique-style ‘museum’ vitrine."
It's displayed within a low, elongated, glass -covered table:
Personally, I'm not a fan of Tracy Emin and her "shock" or crudely provocative art doesn't appeal to me but what did catch my attention is the italicized sentence above: it alludes to the intricate needlepoint pillow chess boards which 18th-century French nobles used to play while traveling by carriage.
Hence this posting.
I wasn't aware of such boards used in the 18th century, so I tried to find some references. I like being delightfully surprised. Actually, I did find a reference - nothing to indicate the prevalence inferred in the presentation (or any prevalence whatsoever, since the King himself is specifically singled out) - given by the gotto man Richard Twiss. On page 5 of the 1787 book, Chess, he wrote:
Dr. Hyde says, that Lewis the XIIIth of France had a chess-board quilted with wool, the men each with a point at the bottom; by which means he played when riding in a carriage, sticking the men in the cushion. Chess-boards are now commonly made for the use of those who travel by water, or in a carriage, with a hole in each square, a peg at the bottom of every man, and fifteen holes on each side to hold the prisoners.
Artdaily.com added the awkwardly phrased: "Travelling Chess Set sits within a long tradition of artists producing chess sets and using the imagery of the game to express ideas about love, war and play. For example, the artists Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Salvador Dalí and Max Ernst all produced chess sets." [They seem to infer "travelling" chess set, but that's only true of Duchamp as far as I know.]
I came across this artwork on WideWalls online gallery with the associated text:
Tracey Emin – Chess Set, 2008. 32 pieces in bronze with patina, quilted-fabric chess board and cotton carrying case with yellow satin ties, fabric bag with drawstring, and corian and hallmarked silver brooch, the board and case with unique monotype elements in blue ink, with engraved signature and numbered AP 2/3 on the back of the brooch, one of three artist’s proof sets aside from the edition of seven, published by RS & A. Ltd., London, presented in a glass and wood exhibition display case. King 60 mm., Pawn 20 mm. Board 450 x 450 mm. Bag 220 x 240 x 150 mm. (approximately).
An experienced chess player, the often controversial British artist Tracey Emin created a unique traveling chess set. Featuring a soft, pliable sewn board and embroidered pouch, it alludes to the intricate needlepoint pillow chess boards which 18th-century French nobles used to play while traveling by carriage.
The piece, btw, was purchased by the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester UK for $25,000 in January 2010 "of which The Art Fund contributed £9,375. The work was placed on public display in the gallery on 15 January, presented in its own antique-style ‘museum’ vitrine."
It's displayed within a low, elongated, glass -covered table:
Personally, I'm not a fan of Tracy Emin and her "shock" or crudely provocative art doesn't appeal to me but what did catch my attention is the italicized sentence above: it alludes to the intricate needlepoint pillow chess boards which 18th-century French nobles used to play while traveling by carriage.
Hence this posting.
I wasn't aware of such boards used in the 18th century, so I tried to find some references. I like being delightfully surprised. Actually, I did find a reference - nothing to indicate the prevalence inferred in the presentation (or any prevalence whatsoever, since the King himself is specifically singled out) - given by the gotto man Richard Twiss. On page 5 of the 1787 book, Chess, he wrote:
Dr. Hyde says, that Lewis the XIIIth of France had a chess-board quilted with wool, the men each with a point at the bottom; by which means he played when riding in a carriage, sticking the men in the cushion.
Chess-boards are now commonly made for the use of those who travel by water, or in a carriage, with a hole in each square, a peg at the bottom of every man, and fifteen holes on each side to hold the prisoners.
Artdaily.com added the awkwardly phrased: "Travelling Chess Set sits within a long tradition of artists producing chess sets and using the imagery of the game to express ideas about love, war and play. For example, the artists Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Salvador Dalí and Max Ernst all produced chess sets." [They seem to infer "travelling" chess set, but that's only true of Duchamp as far as I know.]