Cammann's Mongolian Chess Set
When my son Ciaran and I began collecting antique chess sets in the 1980s, the first chess collecting book we read was Chessmen by A.E.J Mackett-Beeson, first published in 1968.
Fig. 1 : Mackett-Beeson’s book (our well used copy)
His book contained an image of two carved wood polychrome figural chessmen stated to be Mongolian, c 1750 (P.85). One of the chessmen was in the form of an enthroned Mongolian king surrounded by courtiers and the other a fierce tiger (a queen?). In the accompanying text (P.87) Mackett-Beeson said that these chessmen belonged to one of two chess sets (the second set being a later 20th century Mongolian shown on a double page image on P.80/81 of his book. ) that a certain Mr. Schuyler Van Rensselaer Cammann from the U.S. acquired during his Eastern travels in the early 1940s. Mackett Beeson was obviously very impressed with the first set, describing it as 'a wonderful carved wooden set made in Outer Mongolia about the middle of the eighteenth century. The extraordinary detail in every piece together with the wonderful colouring which is so painstakingly applied, puts this superb set in a class by itself and certainly among the most important of all Eastern chess sets'
Fig. 2 shows the image in Mackett-Beeson’s book of the two chessmen and the full paragraph describing the two sets.
I had often wondered what this complete early set must have looked like and why Mackett-Besson had not shown an image of the complete set, particularly as he had included a two page spread image of the 20th century Mongolian set in his book. While he may have been working from photographs sent to him, his enthusiastic description of the earlier set suggests he may have handled it – one theory I have is that Mr. Cammam visited London in the 1960s with his two Mongolian chess sets and left the later one with M-B for sale and thus allowing him the time to image that one for inclusion his book. Cammam was interested in chess so he may have sought out Mackett-Besson to discuss his unusual Mongolian sets. I don’t have evidence of this but this is my best guess currently.
In more recent times, Gareth Williams book, Master Pieces (2000) and The Mongolian Chess Sets (2002) by Rodolfo Pozzi, both contain references to Cammann and his early research on Mongolian chess, but sadly they do not contain any images of the set in question. So it seemed to me that this set that M-B described on page 85 of his book, must have vanished completely from sight.
Then, earlier this year (2018) a Mongolian chess set was put up for sale by the Heritage Auction House in the U.S. and the listing contained an image of a complete polychromed wood set in a red stained slide top box. See Fig. 3 below.
While the chess pieces were not shown in close up, it did seem to us that the king and queen were identical to the image of the king and queen in M-B's book and also the box was red stained as mentioned in William's book. However there was no provenance provided in the auction catalog about the previous owners (and on an initial enquiry the auction house would not divulge that information) but all the visual evidence suggested that this set might be the early Mongolian set discovered by Cammann back in the 1940s.
From the intensity of the bidding it seems that a number of others had also liked this set and wanted to acquire it. We just managed to prevail and are happy to be its current custodians. We bought it based on our hunch that it was the set that contained the two pieces that had caught our imagination many years ago in Mackett-Beeson book. After the sale we described to the auction house why we thought it might be Cammann’s, they were a little surprised, but kindly confirmed it came from one of his descendants. Cammann after the second world war became a professor Oriental Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He unfortunately passed away in a car accident in 1991.
Fig. 4 shows the main pieces on each side and a complete set of images can be seen on our site Antique Mongolian Chess Set .
All the wooden pieces are monobloc in form and stand on carved and decorated raised plinths and the pieces on each side are distinguished by the colour of the platform on the plinths - one side a green colour and the other a brownish red colour.
Each chess piece exudes great individuality and character from the seated Noiyans (Kings) with their 5 standing attendants, the Bers (Queens/Viziers) portrayed as fearsome animals - Chinese Lion Dog and stripped Tiger, the Terghe (Rooks) as horse drawn carts with riders, one with right leg folded over and the other figure with his left leg folded over.
Probably the most charming pieces are the family groups of the bactrian camels (Temee/Bishop) and the horses (Mori/Knights) where the care the parents have for their young is wonderfully depicted.
The pawns on each side are portrayed as the young offspring of the respective Queens and the fact the chess set is still housed in its original (and well worn) red lacquered slide top chess box is a real bonus.
Interpreting the meaning and significance of Mongolian chess sets is a science in itself and in his specialist book 'The Mongolian Chess Sets' , Rodolpho Pozzi provides a great insight (quoting Carmann's essays among others) of how the nomadic culture and lifestyle in that country shaped the great variety of chess set designs used and I wish to acknowledge the great assistance it gave me in researching this particular set.
Cammann was stationed in Mongolian in the 1940s as part of his US Navy career.
On his return he wrote a book describing some of his experiences including several chess references (one being playing chess with monks in a Lama monastery). The book see below – including a photo of the author, also has an image of the chess set above from page 88.
Given that so few antique chess sets come with any provenance, it adds a lot to the charm of this particular set that we can see and record at least some of its history.
Dermot Rochford 2018
