P250: Rare dated mid 18th century French chess set.

Several of the pieces on their bases, bear the probable owners name of Jumelle, his hometown location of St Erme (a town in northeastern France) and the date of 1765 . Additionally, there are a number of signed and dated hand written notes on the underside of the chess box's lid and these were in the mid 19th Century by a descendant of the original owner of the set. We were able to find a current family Jumelle member and they kindly translated the text and confirm some family tree history associated with it. Here are a few highlights:

- The information on the inside of the box lid was written in the 1860s by a great gandson, Alfred Jumelle of the original owner of the set, of Jean-Baptiste Jumelle de St Erme (1726-1806).

- The chess game was given to Alfred Jumelle by his father a few weeks before his death on March 1, 1861. "I bequeath it to my son if he survives me; in absentia, to my daughter".

- The set was documented because of this use in October 1765 by Philidor (1726-1795) the famous French chess player. Some background information on Philidor here : Francois-Andre Danican Philidor

The set maybe an early example showing the evolution from earlier form a plainer abstract knights to a 'Dragoon' helmet type top - the French cavalry Dragoon's regiment having had their tri-corn headgear replaced by a crested metal helmet in 1862.

We think this set is a useful addition to the catalogue of early French chess sets and may help chess collectors in addressing on going questions such as what form French playing chess sets were in use prior to introduction of knights with horses heads. Whether or not there was a 'typo' error in the text accommpaning Diderot's chess diagram in his Encyclopedie publication of 1771 in regards to which pieces were knights vs bishops, is something we are continuing to evaluate and this set provides another data point. Here is an interesting related article on 18th French sets : Tom Gallegos

Here is an article on French 18th century design that we recently published Click for French Chess Set Design Article

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