Vol XXXI No3 November 2022

A Rare, Pre-Revolution, French Set

Jim Joannou

CCI member Dermot Rochford, recently acquired a very interesting, 18th C chess set, which

provides a little more evidence to all the recent discussions and articles regarding French

Encyclopedie style / Regence style and the Enlightenment of the French revolution. I’m sure CCI

members will remember this! (Note: Information and all pictures are reproduced with kind

permission from Dermot Rochford)

The set, shown in Picture 1 below, is classed by French CCI member, Patrice Plain, as the

‘Phrygian’ Style. (Ref 1 & 2). Very little is known about this style and although a few previous

writers have linked it with the Lyon style sets but there are doubts on this. The term Phrygian comes

from the style of helmet worn by the French military in the 18th century, which is depicted as the

finial on the knight. This Phrygian style set provides more information as some of the pieces are

signed and dated. (Picture 2)

Some of the main pieces (King, Queen, & Rook) of the set are typically Regence in style, with the

King having a ‘crown’ like finial, which is conformation of its pre-revolutionary origin. The bishop

Picture 1: (Left) A

very rare French

Phrygian style set.

The part triangular

finial of the bishop

can clearly be seen.

Also note that the

very top finial of the

pawn and the bishop

are the same.

Picture 2:

(Right)

Showing the

date, makers

name and

location on

the base of

some pieces.

Vol XXXI No3 November 2022

shows the ‘tricorn’ shape to its upper section and following Patrice Plain’s research on identifying

such pieces (Ref 1), we can see that this piece has the same finial as the pawns and is therefore the

bishop.

There are also dated comments on the provenance of this set written in French, on the underside of

the lid of the box. (See Pic 3) The markings on the pieces date this set to 1765 and the makers name

is Jumelle who operated from a workshop in Saint Erme, approximately 120km to the northeast of

Paris. The Jumelle family were a well-known craftsman/business family from approx. 1620. The

handwritten inscriptions seem to relate to ownership and provenance of the chess set from the 1760's

through to the 1860's and include references to Francois Andre Philidor (1726 - 1795)'.

Picture 3: Showing the dated inscriptions on the underside of the lid

The positioning of the Bishop / Knight pieces are one more piece of evidence that supports the

‘Typo’ theory put forward by Tom Gallegos during his ‘enlightenment’ presentation. These

Phrygian set along with the Lyon style all have many similarities to the Regence style, so it is likely

that all these styles existed in France at the same time. One possibility is that some regions of France

or different makers wanted to add their own feature to distinguish their work or style, but it was the

Regence pattern that survived the revolution and lasted into the 19th & 20th centuries. This set is

one more piece of evidence, alongside the very early Directoire style set I reported on previously

(Ref 3), that the Regence and others styles, did not evolve after the French revolution.

References:

1) Les jeux d’échecs Français au 18ième siècle. Patrice Plain. 2011. CCI Congress

Switzerland.

2) https://ccifrance.com

3) The Encyclopedie Saga, Regence & Directoire Designs. Jim Joannou. The Chess Collector

Magazine VolXXXI No2. July 2022.

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