Medieval Ivory Chessmen at Metropolitan Museum

Over 30 chessmen from the collection of the British Museum are shown at The Cloisters, the branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, USA) devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe. The Metropolitan's presentation of The Game of Kings: Medieval Ivory Chessmen from the Isle of Lewis represents the first time such a large ensemble of the chessmen has traveled outside the United Kingdom.

The Lewis chessmen are generally believed to have been made in Norway. Stylistic similarities to sculpture point specifically to the Norwegian city of Trondheim, as does archaeological evidence of workshops for the carving of walrus ivory. At the time that the chessmen were carved, the seat of political and ecclesiastical control of the Isle of Lewis was in Norway, and shipping lanes from Norway to Ireland went past the Outer Hebrides. The Lewis hoard may represent a merchant's wares, lost or abandoned on the isle in the 12th century.

Date: until April 22
Location: Romanesque Hall,The Cloisters, 99 Margaret Corbin Drive. New York. USA.
Opening hours: from Tuesday to Thursday from 9.30pm to 4.45pm (from November to February). From 9.30pm to 5.15pm (from March to October). December 26, 2011 and January 2, 2012, from 9.30am to 4.45pm.