Austro-Hungarian silver-gilt and enamel chess set

This chess set is comprised of a chessboard complete with thirty-two chessmen. The board and the pieces are crafted from silver-gilt and polychrome enamel, with jewelled accents throughout.

The playing surface lifts to reveal a red velvet-lined interior compartment finished with chain fittings for the storage of the chessmen. The sloped silver-gilt sides of the board are profusely engraved with flowing foliate forms, while the centre of each side is set with a series of engraved scenes of battle finished with blue enamel and contained within parcel gilt white enamel frames. Each corner of the board is adorned with a pawn figure set within a pierced and jewelled silver-gilt mount, while the mahogany base of the board is raised on conforming pierced and jewelled silver-gilt feet.

The chessmen feature silver-gilt bodies set on jewelled and enamelled bases atop velvet-finished feet. The figures are designed in a Medieval style, with the kings and queens wearing enamelled capes, the bishops with croziers, the knights on horseback, and the rooks modelled as round towers. One set of pieces is finished with cobalt blue enamel, while the other is finished with white and pale blue enamels.

The silver is marked ‘925’.