Lewis chessmen

The queen rests one hand against her cheek and holds a horn in the other. Her crown and veil mark her role, while scrolls and animal heads decorate the chair. A small chess piece has enough detail to reward a look from several angles. This walrus-ivory queen dates to about AD 1150–1200. She belongs to the group known as the Lewis chessmen. The familiar name can make the pieces sound like one set always kept together, but parts of the group are held in different collections. The queen here is a specific surviving piece, with her own carved details. The Museum purchased her from T. A. Forrest in 1831. The hand at the cheek is easy to read as an emotion, though a modern expression cannot tell us exactly what the carver intended. Look instead at the work needed to describe a face, a veil and an ornamented chair in ivory at this scale.