Chess and other Games Pieces from Islamic Lands

Deborah Freeman Fahid is an independent scholar, and former assistant curator and head of publications at The al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait. She has worked in the field of Islamic art since 1995, when she was responsible for Islamic manuscripts and works on paper at Christie’s, King Street, London. She has contributed to a number of catalogues on Islamic manuscripts for a private collection, and to the catalogue for a recent exhibition on chess in Doha. She has edited several catalogues for The al-Sabah Collection, published by Thames & Hudson: Splendors of the Ancient East: Antiquities from The al-Sabah Collection (2013), Persian Painting: The Arts of the Book and Portraiture (2014) and Arts of the Hellenized East: Precious Metalwork and Gems of the Pre-Islamic Era (2015).

Foreword by Sheikh Nasser Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Part One: Early Development of Chess and Backgammon Pieces • Essay: Chess and Backgammon in the Iranian World; Catalogue Section A: Figural Chessmen • Part Two: Abstract Chessmen, Backgammon and Other Games Pieces • Essay: Nishapur and Early Islamic Games Pieces; Catalogue Sections: B) Ivory and Bone; C) Wood and Jet; D) Ceramic; E) Stone; F) Rock Crystal and Other Hardstones; G) Glass; H) Other Games and Related Items • Part Three: Chessmen and Other Games Pieces in Museum and Private Collections