A Good French Régence Pattern Boxwood & Rosewood Chess Set, Late 18th Century
bishops with bullet shaped finials, knights with canted "tri-corn" tops, rooks as smaller bulbous turrets, pawns with baluster knops, in the original box with a sliding lid inscribed: "L' Institution des S...à Paris 20 Mai 1826" (some chipping and damage).
King: 9cm high
Pawn: 4.5cm high
Box: 16cm long, 8cm high, 10cm wide.
Provenance: Gareth Williams Chess Collection. This set features in Gareth's book: "Masterpieces", Apple Press, 2000, illustrated pp. 38-39:
"A late eighteenth-century wood French 'Regency' set similar in design to one owned by Benjamin Franklin. For convenience all chessmen have been turned, the traditional horse's head for the knight being ommitted, thereby saving the manufacturer the cost of employing a skilled carver. This is a typical French playing set of the eighteenth-century. The abstract design is very neutral, an astute marketing ploy so as not to discourage their sales to various continuously volatile political and religious factions within."
