
Susan here – our Christmas tree is still up, lights still glowing each night, the year has scarcely begun, and it’s been quite the week since New Year’s! Hang on, it’s bound to get better! In that hopeful spirit, and perhaps to dispel some of the cloud of 2020, I’m hanging on to Christmas a bit longer. We had a lovely holiday, even managed to see some family (appropriately masked and distanced, and we even staged Christmas on the Porch in the sunny cold with a few). There were great gifts and lots of smiles, though no hugs this year. Some of the presents are still out where we can enjoy them before they find their various nooks and niches. Christmas and Hanukkah and any holiday gift-giving isn’t just about gifts—the loving, caring thoughtfulness behind them is what matters, makes the difference, lasts a lifetime.
Though some gifts are just so cool, right?! This year my husband surprised me with something I’ve drooled over for a while: a set of Lewis chessmen. And I wanted to share it with you, because here at Wenches, we love Christmas, we love kindness, and we loooooove historical stuff. This set was produced by the National Museum of Scotland, a beautiful reproduction, gorgeous and fascinating. I don’t really play chess (my dad taught me years ago, my husband followed up with more hours of play, but it just didn’t stick) – though I’ll be picking it back up again if just for the excuse to play with these remarkable, adorable little guys, with their serious and perplexed little faces, and their incredible detail. (The photos here are of my own wee Lewis set, not the beautiful museum originals -- and yes, my wee chessmen are seated on a cheese board, since their board had yet to be delivered.)
The original chess pieces were discovered in 1831 at Uig on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, when a farmer found a horde of little carvings exposed on a beach after a storm. Today, 11 pieces are in the National Museum of Scotland and 82 pieces are in the British Museum, renowned as unique and priceless treasures. An additional piece was discovered in 2019 in the back of a drawer in Edinburgh, purchased in 1964 for a few pounds--the price today of a creamy latte; wrapped in a cloth, stuck in a drawer, forgotten for a generation.
Made of walrus ivory, a few of whale teeth, intricately carved, whimsical, rustic, they are exquisite, tough, and beautiful despite the wear and tear of sand and centuries. The 93 pieces belong to four incomplete sets, which in mix-and-match provide a full two teams for warfare on an outsized board--they are hefty little thugs and royals.
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