With hand on cheek, pursed lips, and a drinking horn firmly in her grasp, a modern audience might conceivably imagine this a queen in need of a drink, regarding with consternation the behaviour of her menfolk. In pewter and food-grade silicone.

Unearthed on the Isle of Lewis in 1831, in the wilderness of Scotland’s remote Outer Hebrides, the 12th century Lewis chessmen are exquisitely carved in walrus ivory, and very likely of Scandinavian origin. Of the seventy-eight pieces known today, the British Museum’s collection of sixty-seven is one of its most popular attractions.

About the collection
A project with the British Museum, this collaboration draws on the public institution’s vast collection of over 8 million artefacts, documenting the story of human culture from its earliest days to the present. Each piece is marked with the British Museum logotype.