Chess Knights and The Elgin Marbles

Nathaniel Cook patented his modern ‘Staunton’ chess pieces on March 1st in 1849. His design was meant to standardize and simplify the numerous variations of decorative chess pieces that ruled the chess boards of the day. To promote and popularize his design, the leading player of the day, Howard Staunton of England, was contracted to endorse the set – in what may have been one of the first celebrity endorsements!

The original Staunton design, and myriad variations of such, remain the predominant style of chess pieces used throughout the world today.The story behind the Neo-Classical Grecian chess knights is that their look was derived from that of the Selene horses of the Elgin Marbles in The British Museum. The Elgin Marbles, or Parthenon Marbles, are sections of the Athenian Parthenon, and brought to the British Museum by Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin and British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1799 to 1803.

Lord Elgin had the figures extracted and then transported by sea to Britain at his own expense. He ended up selling them to the British government, interestingly enough having declined several more lucrative offers, including one by Napoleon Bonaparte. The controversy over the removal of these sculptures remains to this day. Do they belong in The British Museum, or should they be repatriated to the ruins of Ancient Greece?