On loan to the Stornoway Museum from the British Museum and National Museum of Scotland.
The King
The Queen
The Bishop
The Knight
The Pawn
If you want to buy a replica set of the Lewis Chessmen there is a little chess shop in bath that has them - Regency Chess
I'm really glad you blogged these. For some ridiculous reason I had wrongly assumed that the original chessmen were also large - like the wooden ones on Lewis!
ReplyDeleteThey were bigger than I anticipated - about 2½ to 3 inches. For some reason I imagined they were about an inch tall - the opposite end of the scale to you.
ReplyDeleteI do so love the Lewis Chessmen. My parent's own a replica set and I learnt to play chess using it. In fact they now own two sets; a full size set and a miniature set. They ran out of room in the lounge to have the full size set out all the time, but I couldn't bear to use a different set so I bought them a miniature set one Christmas. If you don't already own a chess set then I can definitely recommend getting a replica Lewis set, they really are so much fun to play with.
ReplyDeleteThey are fascinating and beautiful although my favourites of the original pieces are not the conventional ones but the 'replacement' King (top left of the composite of the four Kings) and the 'bowler-hatted' Warden.
ReplyDeleteOddly Mark I am the other way to you. I have two sets which were gifted to me. The first a boxed set in the original sizes and the second a miniature. However when I play I play with a Staunton set because I've never been able to settle with the Lewis set for a game. Perhaps I will try it again one day.
So GB, if we ever end up playing chess against each other I hereby request the use of a Lewis chess set. I'm sure I'll need all the advantage I can get!
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