Nishapur Chess Set Offered for Sale by Sotheby's

Hmmmm....

I receive advertisements from Sotheby's regarding various auctions they are hosting all around the globe.  To make a long story short, here is an offering from a recent auction held in London on October 25, 2017, Arts of the Islamic World.

Chess Collectors International members may most likely recognize the name of the owner:  Lothar Schmid (1928 - 2013), from his collection:

Image from Sotheby's auction website.

Sixteen (16) pieces of ivory described as "a rare Saminid part chess set, Nishapur, 10th/11th century, or earlier."  Estimated auction value was between 15,000 and 20,000 GBP (roughly $19,600 - $26,200 USD).

The pieces were evidently not sold (auction lot 138).  [Two rock crystal "Fatimid chess pieces" from the Lothar Schmid collection were also offered at this sale and also did not sell, Lots 136 and l37.]

I am having a few problems with asserting the age and authenticity of these pieces.  The catalog claims that these pieces are of a "set"  - nearly a complete set - and are as old as the dating range suggests:  "...an almost complete chess set of this early period."  Sixteen pieces, some from "each" side (I am assuming the somewhat darker colored ivory pieces are the "black" pieces and the lighter pieces are the "white" pieces, or the colored equivalents of what was prevalent in use back in that time period), are not a complete chess set of 32 pieces.

Setting aside one's reliance upon Grandmaster Schmid's collecting expertise (despite the fact that we know experts can be and have been fooled by clever forgeries of nearly everything in the world of art and collecting in the past and present), I have some qualms about assuming these pieces are authentic:

(1)  We have only one source cited for reference, a 1987 article in German from a publication that, you can be sure, is most likely not available online and would need to be translated by anyone who does not read/speak German.

(2)  We know nothing about how the pieces were acquired, when, where, or the circumstances surrounding their discovery/excavation.  Were the pieces individually carbon date tested to confirm age?  What were the circumstances of their discovery?  Who, what, when and where were the pieces discovered or excavated?  How did they come into the possession of Grandmaster Schmid?

(3)  Were the pieces purchased at the auction and, if so, by a museum?  My first assumption is that, given the rarity of such pieces, many museums would have been vying for ownership of the pieces to add to a collection of Islamic art and history -- IF (and that's a big IF) the curator(s) trusted their authenticity.

The pieces certainly LOOK authenticate; but then, remember what happened with the allegedly ancient gameboards supposedly excavated at Jiroft - and how they were exposed as frauds by a (now retired) research fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Oscar White Muscarella.

New Excavations Planned for Jiroft (Iran)

Article from The Tehran Times

Iranian, German experts to excavate “archeologists’ lost paradise” On Line: 10 March 2015 19:07 In Print: Wednesday 11 March 2015 TEHRAN -- A team of Iranian and German archaeologists will head to Jiroft in southern Iran in the near future to excavate the 5000-year-old site, which is known as the “archeologists’ lost paradise.”   Preparing a map of the site, searching for new structures near the Halil-Rud River, and analysis of the outcome of the excavation will be high on the agenda for the excavation, the director of the Iranian team, Nader Alidadi, said in a press release on Monday.   He said that the excavation project, which will last five years, aims to study the cultural boundary of the Halil-Rud region, cultural relations between the Halil-Rud region and the Mesopotamian civilization over the prehistoric periods, particularly during the Bronze Age.   The team is composed of 16 members, including eight German archaeologists, who will be led by Professor Peter Pfälzner of the University of Tubingen.   Eight Iranian archaeologists will also collaborate in the excavation project. The collaboration between the Iranian and German archaeologists is based on a memorandum of understanding, which was signed between the University of Tubingen and Iran’s Research Institute for Cultural Heritage and Tourism in late January.   The Jiroft civilization was discovered next to the Halil-Rud River in Kerman Province in 2002 when reports surfaced of extensive illegal excavations and plundering of priceless historical items in the area by locals.   Since 2002, five excavation seasons have been carried out at the Jiroft site under the supervision of Professor Yusef Majidzadeh, leading to the discovery of a ziggurat made of more than four million mud bricks dating back to about 2200 BC.   Many ancient ruins and interesting artifacts were excavated by archaeologists at the Jiroft ancient site.   After the numerous unique discoveries in the region, Majidzadeh declared Jiroft to be the cradle of art. Many scholars questioned the theory since no writings or architectural structures had yet been discovered at the site, but shortly afterwards his team discovered inscriptions at Konar Sandal Ziggurat, causing experts to reconsider their opinions about it.   The Konar Sandal inscriptions are older than the Inshushinak inscription, suggesting that the recently discovered inscriptions link Proto Elamite script, which first appeared in Susa about 2900 BC, with Old Elamite, which was used between about 2250 and 2220 BC.   Many Iranian and foreign experts see the findings in Jiroft as signs of a civilization as great as Sumer and ancient Mesopotamia. Majidzadeh believes that Jiroft is the ancient city of Aratta, which was described as a great civilization in a Sumerian clay inscription.   MMS/YAW END *************************************************************************** I have written several posts about Jiroft over the years since this blog began in 2007, but the primary article I wrote was done in November, 2005, and updated in January, 2007.  You can find it at the Goddesschess website if you're interested -- it is an indictment of the gross negligence of the Iranian government when news of the discovery of the site and its massive looting became public.  To this day I have seen nothing that proves to me there was no collusion between the massive and organized looting and sales on the illegal antiquities market (and subsequent massive quantities of manufactured "antiquities" that, simultaneously, flooded the international market for illegal sale) and the Revolutionary Guard.

5,000 Year Old Civilization Found in Iran?

Yeah, right.  Even if this report is true (the Iranian press routinely lies), by the time it's published (like - now) the looters, the locals and, most efficient of all, the Revolutionary Guard, will have been there and removed anything of value.  We've seen it happen over and over again.  One prime example I reported on at Goddesschess was the discovery of Jiroft, and the rash of looting and faked antiquities that came out of the area (under the auspices of the Revolutionary Guard) within a few days of its discovery.  But, for what it is worth, here is the article. I am very very sorry for the archeologists who must work under the current regime in Iran.

Archaeologists may have found 5,000-year-old civilization in southern Iran
Tehran Times Culture Desk
January 5, 2011

TEHRAN -- A team of archaeologists working on Bam riverside in Kerman Province have recently unearthed ruins of a large ancient site, which are believed to belong to a 5000-year-old civilization.

The site was discovered while excavating for a construction project in the Khajeh Askar region near the city of Bam, team director Nader Alidadi-Soleimani told the Persian service of the Mehr News Agency on Tuesday.

“Unfortunately, part of the site was damaged during the excavation,” he said.

“Based on the artifacts unearthed there, the site was one of the early places of human habitation in Iran, whose inhabitants had a connection with other civilizations such as the Jiroft civilization,” he explained.

The team has also discovered a number of pieces of intact pottery and shards. Study of the artifacts suggests that use of potter’s wheel was not common at the site.

Alidadi-Soleimani also said that two styles of burial, one for a man and another for woman, have been identified at two cemeteries discovered at the site.

One of the bodies was buried in a fetal position and another was lying face up.

The bodies had been buried with various artifacts. A seashell containing chromatic material used for women’s cosmetics was found beside one of the bodies.

The Jiroft civilization was discovered next to the Halil-Rud River in Kerman Province in 2002 when reports surfaced of extensive illegal excavations and plundering of priceless historical items in the area by locals.

Since 2002, five excavation seasons have been carried out at the Jiroft site under the supervision of Yusef Majidzadeh, leading to the discovery of a ziggurat made of more than four million mud bricks dating back to about 2200 BC.

Many ancient ruins and interesting artifacts have been excavated by archaeologists at the Jiroft ancient site, which is known as the “archeologists’ lost heaven”.

After the numerous unique discoveries in the region, Majidzadeh declared Jiroft to be the cradle of art. [Well, it's not.] Many scholars questioned the theory since no writings or architectural structures had yet been discovered at the site, but shortly afterwards his team discovered inscriptions at Konar Sandal Ziggurat, causing experts to reconsider their opinions about it. [Not the oldest evidence for 'writing', however, so blah blah.]

The Konar Sandal inscriptions are older than the Inshushinak inscription, suggesting that the recently discovered inscriptions link Proto Elamite script, which first appeared in Susa about 2900 BC, with Old Elamite, which was used between about 2250 and 2220 BC.

Many Iranian and foreign experts see the findings in Jiroft as signs of a civilization as great as Sumer and ancient Mesopotamia. Majidzadeh believes that Jiroft is the ancient city of Aratta, which was described as a great civilization in a Sumerian clay inscription. [This last comment is pure propaganda and clear evidence of the current Iranian regime's religious inferiority complex to Iraq's religious sect].

Jiroft Back in the News

Jiroft at Goddesschess. From the Tehran Times: Date : Wednesday, May 7, 2008 Jiroft is the ancient city of Marhashi: U.S. scholar Tehran Times Culture Desk TEHRAN -- Piotr Steinkeller, professor of Assyriology in Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations of Harvard University, believes that the prehistoric site of Jiroft is the lost ancient city of Marhashi. He developed the theory in his paper during the first round of the International Conference on Jiroft Civilization, which was held in Tehran on May 5 and 6. Marhashi, (in earlier sources Warahshe) was a 3rd millennium BC polity situated east of Elam, on the Iranian plateau. It is known from Mesopotamian sources, and its precise location has not been identified. An inscription of Lugal-Anne-Mundu, the most important king of the Adab city-state in Sumer, locates it, along with Elam, to the south of Gutium, an ancient polity in upper Mesopotamia. The inscription also explains that Lugal-Anne-Mundu confronted the Warahshe king, Migir-Enlil. Jiroft is the lost ancient city of Marhashi, which had been located between Anshan and Meluhha, Steinkeller said. Anshan was one of the early capitals of Elam, from the 3rd millennium BC, which is located 36 kilometers northwest of modern Shiraz in Fars Province, southwestern Iran. The Indus Valley Civilization has been tentatively identified with the toponym Meluhha known from Sumerian records. According to Steinkeller, Marhashi was a political and economic power in eastern Iran, which had been in a close contact with Babylonia. This relationship had been developed over two periods, which has influenced the political history of the region for at least a half century. Steinkeller had previously been searching the Kerman region in order to identify a site from the 3rd millennium BC, which he could consider it as Marhashi. He had found Tepe Yahya and Tall-e Eblis, but he believes that Tepe Yahya is too small to be considered as Marhashi and Tall-e Eblis has been has almost entirely been destroyed over the years. Thus, he said that Jiroft is the heart of the ancient city of Marhashi and hoped that upcoming excavations and studies would help archaeologists discover other parts of the city. According to the conference scientific secretary Professor Yusef Majidzadeh, over 700 ancient sites such as tepes and graves have been discovered in Jiroft over the past six seasons of excavation by a team of archaeologists led by Majidzadeh. Located next to the Halil-Rud River in southern Iran’s Kerman Province, Jiroft came into the spotlight in 2002 when reports surfaced of extensive illegal excavations being carried out by local people who went on to plunder priceless historical items. Majidzadeh team unearthed a great number of artifacts at Jiroft as well as three tablets in one of the present-day villager’s homes and a brick inscription near Jiroft’s Konar-Sandal region wherein they also discovered ruins of a large fortress, which previously was believed to be a ziggurat. The structure is surmised have been made of more than four million mud bricks. The pottery works and the shards discovered in the Konar-Sandal fortress date back to an interval between the fourth millennium BC and early years of the Islamic period, Majidzadeh said during the conference. Once, Majidzadeh had said that Jiroft is the ancient city of Aratta, which was described in a Sumerian clay inscription as an impressive center of civilization. In December 2007, he suggested that archaeologists use the term Proto-Iranian instead of Proto-Elamite for the script found at Jiroft. He believes that the world should revise its knowledge of the Eastern civilizations due to the inscriptions discovered at Jiroft. Majidzadeh describes the inscriptions as unique and also elaborates that the tablets and the brick inscription bearing a script which has been invented along with the Mesopotamia script at the same time. A great number of Iranian and foreign archaeologists and scholars will discuss latest studies on the Jiroft civilization during the conference, which will be continued in Jiroft from May 8 to 9.

Cartosemiotics - Who Knew?

Pimander a/k/a dondelion explodes on the scene like the meteorite over Tunguska - leaving behind miles of flattened trees and scorched earth - but no clues as to what he's really talking about! LOL! (If you read the post below this one you'll see to what I'm referring).

So, I pulled out my trusty old Webster's dictionary to try and get a grip on Pi's true meaning. I usually need help in interpreting Pi's thought processes - something that I can sometimes almost but not quite understand - for me, an intellectual process rather akin to Parcifal's physical quest for the Holy Grail. Fitting, I guess, since what we're after is, in essence, the Holy Grail of Chess to chess historians: ORIGINS (cue spooky music here....)

Semiotic or semiotics: (paraphrasing here) from the Greek semeiotikos observant of signs, from semeiousthai to interpret signs, from semeion sign; akin to Greek semu sign - more at SEMANTIC: a general philosophical theory of signs and symbols that deals esp. with their function in both artifically constructed and natural languages and comprises syntactics, semantics, and pragmatics.

Semantics: 1. the study of meanings: (a) the historical and psychological study and the clasification of changes in the signification of words or forms viewed as factors in linguistic dvelopment; (b)(1) SEMIOTIC; (2) a branch of semiotic dealing with the relations between signs and what they refer to and including theories of denotation, extension, naming, and truth 2. GENERAL SEMANTICS 3. (a) the meaning or relationship of meanings of a sign or set of signs; esp. connotative meaning (b) the exploitation of connotation and ambiguity (as in progaganda).

So, now that I know (sort of) what semiotics actually means (I have distilled it down to the study of signs and symbols to determine their meanings), I understand (I think) what cartosemiotics means. I know that "carto" has reference to maps - but, interestingly, "carto" is not a defined term in my Websters. The closest terms are cartogram (a map showing statistics geographically) - from the French carte and gramme; cartographer (one that makes maps), and cartography (the science or art of making maps) again referencing the french word carte card, map + graphie - more at CARD. There is also the highly suggestive definitation of cartomancy - literally from the French carte card + mancie -mancy: fortune-telling by the use of playing cards. It's quite probable that the earliest board games had divinatory significance - so this much later linkage of playing cards/fortune telling is like a distant echo of practices having much greater significance in the past.

Under CARD, the etymological roots of the word are fascinating: Middle English carde, modification of Middle French carte, probably from Old Italian carta, literally, leaf of paper, from Latin charta leaf of paprus, from Greek chartes. It's most common meaning is a small stiff piece of paper.

However, there is also cardi or cardio - HEART which, although not shown as related to the root words for CARD, caught my attention because of the concept of the axis mundi The axis mundi (also cosmic axis, world axis, world pillar and center of the world), a symbolic concept representing the mythical point of connection between sky and earth. One of the definitions of HEART is CENTER. The concept of the axis mundi reflects man's thought of a necessary and vital connection between the center of the universe and the center of our world. Out of man's desire to build his local "world" around this centered concept arose, I think, the first mathematics and geometry.

Pulling all of this together, cartosemiotics - simplistically (the way I like it) - the study of the meanings of symbols and signs on maps was, to the ancients, the study of signs and symbols encompassing their understanding of the mystical and/or
spiritual connection (or attempting to understand such a connection) between the Heavens and the Earth as embodied in the axis mundi, as well as using practical means (via divination, for instance) to discern the meaning and intent of such signs and symbols, which they understood to contain messages from the gods.

If we can understand that, then we can begin to understand the significance of the earliest surviving representations of what we call board games. Pimander mentioned two of them: the "Scorpion-man" board game of 16 playing spaces excavated at Jiroft, Iran, and I think he had in mind the second game board show here, excavated
at Beth Shemesh (Stratem V), dating to the Middle Bronze Age, c. 2200 - 1570 BCE. Dating of the Jiroft artifact is uncertain, but is generally thought to be from between 3,000 to 2,000 BCE, the midpoint being 2,500 BCE (about the same date as the game boards discovered by Woolley in the "royal tombs" at Ur and the wooden "serpent" game board excavated at Shar-i Sokhtah (the Iranians call it the "Burnt City" because it was destroyed at least 3 times by catastrophic fires). Shar-i Sokhtah is located in the border area of where modern-day maps show Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan all meet, near the Helmand River.

Jiroft Artifacts to Be Returned to Iran

From CAIS (Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies):

(Image: Oscar Muscarella at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art says this game board is a forgery - see link at end of article)

Iran Wins Battle Against London Barakat Gallery in Jiroft's Smuggled Artefacts

December 22, 2007

LONDON, (CAIS) -- A London appeal court made a ruling on Friday that the city’s Barakat Gallery must return 18 artefacts smuggled from the ancient site of Jiroft in southern Iran.

In March 2007, London’s High Court had rejected Iran’s ownership of the 5,000-year-old artefacts which had been put up for auction at the Barakat Gallery, which has offices in Mayfair, central London and Beverly Hills.

Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) appealed against the court decision in May.

“The return of the artefacts is vital for Iranian culture and civilization,” deputy director of CHTHO’s Legal Department Sussan Cheraghchi told the Persian service of CHN.

The collection of historic items consists of two jars, five cups, six vases, a bowl, a vessel and three weights.

Lawyers and other experts had reckoned that Iran and the Barakat Gallery had equal chances of winning the legal battle. The court had set a security of 100,000 euros for the appeal, and Iran had accepted to pay the sum to induce the appeal court to begin legal proceedings.

If Iran had lost the case, the security would have been paid to the Barakat Gallery as compensation for the delay in the auction of the artefacts.

In March 2005, Britain returned 118 ancient artefacts which had been looted from Jiroft. The items had been confiscated by HM Customs and Excise at Heathrow Airport in the summer of 2004.

Jiroft came under the spotlight in 2002, when reports surfaced that local people had begun extensive illegal excavations and were plundering priceless relics.

Five excavation seasons have been carried out at the Jiroft site, under the supervision of Professor Yusef Majidzadeh, leading to the discovery of a ziggurat made of more than four million mud bricks dating back to circa 2200 BCE.

After numerous rare discoveries in the region, Majidzadeh declared Jiroft to be a cradle of art and civilisation, and named it as the “archaeologists’ lost paradise”.

*************************************************************************************

Not mentioned is whether any of these artifacts are forgeries...

Jiroft Again

Good old Majidzadeh. He's at it again, trying (seems desperate, actually) to find more "evidence" for his supposition that writing was invented - not in Sumer - not in ancient Egypt - but in - you got it - Iran, in Jiroft, to be exact :) Well, we all have our fantasies, don't we now, darlings! Actually, I shouldn't be so hard on the man. He's dealing with a tolitarian Islamic regime who would just as soon see Jiroft destroyed (and all evidence of pre-Islamic culture) and the Revolutionary Guard are doing their best to steal what are left of the antiquities from the ruins (that the locals haven't already stolen), flooding the illegal antiquities market with them, and lots of fakes too (the locals are very good at churning them out). I wrote about that in an extensive article for Goddesschess in 2005, which was revised and updated in 2007. From MehrNews.com November 6, 2007 Archaeologists dig Jiroft for more inscriptions TEHRAN, Nov. 6 (MNA) -- A team of archaeologists led by Yusef Majidzadeh returned to Jiroft yesterday in order to renew digs of the 5000-year-old site in the hope of finding further artifacts bearing inscriptions. The team was accompanied for this excavation season by several French and Italian archaeologists along with a number of Iranian students. During the past five phases of excavation Majidzadeh’s previous team had discovered four brick inscriptions which they unearthed in one of the present-day villager’s homes. Majidzadeh hopes to find another collection of brick inscriptions at the site. Located next to the Halil-Rud River in the southern Iranian province of Kerman, Jiroft came into the spotlight nearly six years ago when reports surfaced of extensive illegal excavations being carried out by local people who went on to plunder priceless historical items. Since 2002, Professor Majidzadeh has conducted five excavation seasons leading to the discovery of a ziggurat made of more than four million mud bricks dating back to circa 2200 BC. Many ancient ruins and interesting artifacts have been retrieved by archaeologists from the ancient site of Jiroft, which is known as the “archeologists lost heaven”. After numerous unique discoveries had been made in the region, Majidzadeh declared Jiroft to be the cradle of art. Many scholars questioned this theory due to the fact that no writings had been discovered at the site, but shortly afterwards his team discovered inscriptions at the Konar-Sandal Ziggurat, which caused experts to reconsider their views on Jiroft. The Konar-Sandal inscriptions are older than the Inshushinak inscription, thus it seems that the recently discovered inscriptions link the Proto Elamite script (first appeared circa 2900 BC in Susa) with the Old Elamite scripts (used between about 2250 and 2220 BC). Many Iranian and foreign experts consider the Jiroft findings to be evidence of the former existence of a civilization as great as that of Sumer or ancient Mesopotamia. Majidzadeh believes that Jiroft is the ancient city of Aratta, which was described in a Sumerian clay inscription as an impressive civilization. In December 2007, he suggested that archaeologists use the term Proto-Iranian instead of Proto-Elamite for the pre-cuneiform script found at several sites. He argued that the inscriptions recently discovered at Konar-Sandal and at some other ancient sites in Iran are older than the oldest inscriptions, such as the Inshushinak, found at Elamite sites. MMS/MA END MNA

Friday Night Miscellany

Hola Darlings. It's hot as hell and I have no choice but to continue to take it - unless I move, which I'm not planning on doing until I reach retirement age. Sigh. It's Friday night and I'm feeling alright other than a mild case of heat stroke; School of Rock is on and it's tres funny - love the manic character of Jack Black. Here's a selection of this and that. First up, Frank “Boy” Pestaño's column about King Kirzan and his abduction by aliens years ago. Eight year old C H Meghna models herself after India's GM Koneru Humpy... Gee - an integrated, comprehensive and cross-disciplinary approach and interpretation of archaeological finds yields - A NEW CONSENSUS on development of civilization in the Middle East? Well, DUH! One note - Jiroft IS located on a river - the Halilrood in Iran (Lawler didn't pick that up for some reason???) - and so the model of civilizations developing around rivers/alluvial plains still holds... Lately, I've become fascinated with "Marian" apparitions. I am about to tread on some religious sensibilities here so, if you are susceptible, please DISCONTINUE READING NOW! This ties into some research I've been doing off and on for years - about sacred spaces/sacred places. In many of these ancient "places of power" (for lack of a better descriptive term), apparitions of the Virgin Mary have been seen. But, as places of power are invariably ancient, predating christianity, I believe that in those ancient places (such as Lourdes) where the "Virgin Mary" has been seen, it is actually a manifestation of an older mother goddess tradition that is "filtered" through the eyes of Christians who have seen these visions and - thus - they say it's the Virgin Mary. I know, darlings, you think I'm full of baloney sausage but you'll humor me anyway :) I would like to point out this interesting "coincidence." The ancient Egyptian goddess, Isis (Aset), sometimes wore a star-spangled cloak or cape in some of her depictions. Isis (Aset) predates the Christian Virgin Mary by 3500 years, give or take a few years. The Virgin Mary, in her manifestation at Pontmain in 1871 for instance, also wore a star-spangled cloak. Hmmm, methinks that the Goddess doesn't change over time, but our perceptions do... Dylan McLain writes about chess in the movies at the New York Times. Enjoy -