2-979-547 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Relics from the Buried City of Brahmunabad, in Sind - Chessmen, Portion of Chess-board, Dice, etc, 1857. 8th- or 9th-century objects excavated at his own expense by Mr. A. F. Bellasis, of the Bombay Civil Service, in what is now Pakistan. 'Figs. 10: chessmen, belonging to different-sized sets; [Bellasis said: "In this same house we were further repaid by finding nearly a complete set of ivory chessmen - one set white, the other black. The kings and queens are about three inches high, and the pawns about one; the other pieces of different intermediate heights. All have been made for use on a board with holes, for each piece has a peg in it, similar to chessmen used nowadays on board ship, to prevent the pieces being easily knocked down"]; Figs. 11: long ivory dice; Figs. 12: may have been portions of the chessboard; Fig. 13: a piece of carved wood;'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.