Designed in 1920 and recreated by expert craftsmen from Germany and Italy, these pieces are comprised of abstract geometric forms. Philadelphia-born, Brooklyn- raised, Dada-Surrealist artist Man Ray created sets from 1920 till his death in 1976. The pyramid is the Egyptian symbol of kingship and the cone a medieval queen's headgear. The flagon represented the bishops' tradition of creating exotic liqueurs and spirits. The knight is fashioned after the head scroll of a violin and the pawns are as tall as the rooks and almost as volumetrically robust as many of the other pieces that are higher ranked to show the increased importance of pawns in modern chess play.
Very few of these original sets are stillavailable for purchase and when they are, they command prices at auctions of tensto hundreds of thousands of dollars. ManRay is hailed as one of 20th century's mostinnovative artists. Son of a Russianimmigrant tailor, Man Ray's artworkwas far ahead of its time so he lived modestlyhis whole life. His vision was to design asimple, straightforward, but modern andaffordable chess set.
Interesting fact. The knight piece fashioned as the scroll of a violin is sourced uniquely from a violin manufacturer in Italy with the expertise and tooling most suited. It's then joined with the rest of the beech wood set made in Germany and finished to perfection.
The beautifully designed chess board was made to compliment the Man Ray chess pieces. Solid beech wood board measures out at 15.75 inches square and was made under license with the Man Ray trust.
King 3.25", base 1.5"
Queen 3.25", Bishop 2.75", Knight 2", Rook and Pawn 1.4"
32 solid beech wood pieces
Board is veneered beech wood, 17" x 17" x 3/4" with 2 1/8" squares
