Chess Set
Artist
Gianni Toso
(Italian, b. 1942)
Date1985
MediumLampworked glass figure
DimensionsOverall: 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm)
ClassificationsGlass
Credit LineMuseum purchase and partial gift of Dylan, Max, Jessica, and Leyla Sandler; Fran and Lenox Baker; Allan Hugh McKinley and Jean Ritter Winslow; Albert and Robbie Selkin; Dr. and Mrs. Edward C. Oldfield III; and the Chrysler Museum Glass Associates
Object number97.1.27
Terms
- Catholicism
- chess
- Judaica
- Black
- White
- Red
- Yellow
- Various
- Colors
On View
On viewThis sculpture is in the form of a 32-figure chess set with Catholic and Orthodox Jewish imagery. White is represented by Catholic clergy, a nun and monks: the king is an archbishop with one hand holding a shepherd's crook and the other raised in a gesture of blessing; the queen is a nun; the bishops carry red and yellow crosses over their shoulders as though marching in a religious procession; the knights carry censers; the rooks each hold a staff surmounted by a votive candle, and the pawns each carry hand-held candles. Black is represented by Orthodox Jewish figures: the king is a rabbi reading from a book of the law; the queen, the rabbi's wife holds Sabbath candles; the bishops dance with Torah scrolls; the knights sound the shofar (a ram's horn); the rooks each hold a lulav (a bundle of palm, willow, and myrtle branches) and a citron; the pawns are each different, one holds a kiddish cup, another has performed a circumcision, and the rest represent festivals. Hebrew inscriptions are cold-enameled on the scrolls, etc.
Parent/Child
