Indian Elephant Chess Piece (c. 17th-18th Century)
EMPIRE LINES12 Aug 2021

Indian Elephant Chess Piece (c. 17th-18th Century)

Manuela Gressani checks out the Asian cultural and intellectual roots of gameplay, through an Indian Elephant Chess Piece from the late 17th to early 18th century.

Chaturanga was first played in 6th century India, a tabletop testing ground for court politicians' imperial tactics. Successive conquests carried the game across continents, leaving distinctly Persian and Chinese imprints, before arriving in Europe as chess. Adapted for local tastes and hierarchies, ivory was swapped with stone and jade, and elephants for bishops and castles. Still, shrunk down to the size of a tabletop board, the Indian Raja, the Persian Shah, the Chinese General, and the European King and Queen, all possessed the same agency as in their respective settings.

Picking up these pieces challenges our tendency to associate chess with western intellect and popularity, exposing the layers of European imperialist and orientalist bias that blur our understanding of Asian histories. Beyond a simple game, chessboards, pieces, and rules, are historically socially significant symbols, revealing the complexities of pre-modern global interactions outwith Europe - and the great debt we owe them.

You can also read Manuela's full article on the Indian Elephant Chess Piece in Things That Talk, a project exploring humanities through the life of objects.

PRESENTER: Manuela Gressani, History of Art MA graduate from the Courtauld Institute of Art. She specialises in the art of the Safavid Empire in the 15th and 16th century.

ART: Indian Elephant Chess Piece (c. 17th-18th Century).

IMAGE: ‘Chess Piece, Bishop'.

SOUNDS: Karpov not Kasparov.

PRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic.


Follow EMPIRE LINES at: twitter.com/jelsofron/status/1306563558063271936

Support EMPIRE LINES on Patreon: patreon.com/empirelines

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(171)

A Cutting: Songs of the Water, Kaajal Modi (2024) (EMPIRE LINES Live at If Trees Could Talk 2026, Eden Project)

A Cutting: Songs of the Water, Kaajal Modi (2024) (EMPIRE LINES Live at If Trees Could Talk 2026, Eden Project)

Find out more about Kaajal Modi’s collaborative work with audio, oral storytelling, and cultural preservation, through ⁠⁠Arts of Noticing⁠⁠, an independent symposium in Leeds, as part of If Trees Coul...

16 Juli 3min

The Deployment of Art: The Imperial War Museum’s Artistic Records Committee, 1968-1982, Clare Carolin (2026) (EMPIRE LINES Live at King’s College London)

The Deployment of Art: The Imperial War Museum’s Artistic Records Committee, 1968-1982, Clare Carolin (2026) (EMPIRE LINES Live at King’s College London)

In this special episode, author and contemporary art historian Clare Carolin joins EMPIRE LINES live, to discuss the British government’s deployment of art as an instrument of war in the North of Irel...

2 Juli 52min

Elevation (Chiltan), Suleman Aqeel Khilji (2025-2026) (EMPIRE LINES x White Cube Paris)

Elevation (Chiltan), Suleman Aqeel Khilji (2025-2026) (EMPIRE LINES x White Cube Paris)

Contemporary artist Suleman Aqeel Khilji recollects the landscapes of Balochistan, a mountainous region spanning present-stay Pakistan and Iran, and the influence of Urdu language and literatures on h...

18 Juni 16min

The Venice Lagoon, a legal person, Giovanni Pellegrini (2025) (EMPIRE LINES x Ocean Space, Venice Biennale 2026)

The Venice Lagoon, a legal person, Giovanni Pellegrini (2025) (EMPIRE LINES x Ocean Space, Venice Biennale 2026)

Researcher, artist, and curator Pietro Consolandi traces the ‘wetland turn’ in art, ecology, and environmental justice, via Giovanni Pellegrini’s 2025 documentary film, The Venice Lagoon, a legal pers...

4 Juni 21min

Nobody Told Me Rivers Dream, Superflux (2025) (EMPIRE LINES x Klima Biennale Wien 2026)

Nobody Told Me Rivers Dream, Superflux (2025) (EMPIRE LINES x Klima Biennale Wien 2026)

Festival director Sithara Pathirana considers climate justice and public space in Europe, tracing the rights of the river Danube through Austria, Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe, via the Kli...

7 Maj 17min

The Erasure of Palestine, Ahmad Al-Bazz (2026) (EMPIRE LINES x MuseumsEtc, Ibraaz)

The Erasure of Palestine, Ahmad Al-Bazz (2026) (EMPIRE LINES x MuseumsEtc, Ibraaz)

Journalist, photographer, and filmmaker Ahmad Al-Bazz captures the depopulation and destruction of Palestinian villages and towns, and the continuation of colonial histories into the present, through ...

23 Apr 24min

Human Being and Animals, Karel Appel (1949) (EMPIRE LINES x Galerie Max Hetzler)

Human Being and Animals, Karel Appel (1949) (EMPIRE LINES x Galerie Max Hetzler)

Curator Franz W. Kaiser considers the avant-garde paintings of Karel Appel, in relation to the historic CoBrA Movement and contemporary ecologies, via Human Being and Animals (1949).Karel Appel: Varia...

9 Apr 15min

The Thing About Making Rocks, Sovay Berriman (2026), with Marie-Anne McQuay (EMPIRE LINES Live at Flamm 2026, Liverpool Biennial 2025)

The Thing About Making Rocks, Sovay Berriman (2026), with Marie-Anne McQuay (EMPIRE LINES Live at Flamm 2026, Liverpool Biennial 2025)

In this special episode, artist Sovay Berriman and curator Marie-Anne McQuay join EMPIRE LINES live, to unearth histories of extractivism in Cornwall and Liverpool, and the relations between coloniali...

26 Mars 56min

Populärt inom Samhälle & Kultur

podme-dokumentar
en-mork-historia
gynning-berg
p3-dokumentar
svenska-fall
creepypodden-med-jack-werner
aftonbladet-krim
killradet
hor-har
aftonbladet-daily
mardromsgasten
kod-katastrof
badfluence
flashback-forever
rss-mer-an-bara-morsa
rss-sanning-konsekvens
sanna-berattelser
rss-krimreportrarna
vad-blir-det-for-mord
tv4-nyheterna-story