The elusive Austrian Upright - a Special Show in the Chess Museum (November 12/2014 - till February 28/2015)
Set A...fetching example of the Upright....
Normally the designation "Uprights" is patented and reserved for those elegant and tall chessmen supposedly invented for and patronized by the Edinburgh chess club around 1810 - and made in great profusion by practically all the prominent London turners, principally Jaques, but hardly in Edinburgh! If I take leave to borrow the "Upright" label, it is to direct attention to a little known and certainly very rare type of chess pieces which originate in Austria - not the minimal Austria of today, but the larger Austria of the days of the Habsburg Empire! And as we will see, there is a connection to those tall and svelte Edinburgh type chessmen which were by and by displaced from the chess boards by the successful advance of the Staunton chess men!
The second half of the 19th century in England is often termed as the "Victorian"age - but on the continent, specifically in Austria and Germany, this is known as "Gründerzeit" - the Founders Age. In the course and following the perturbations of the Napoleonic wars and the ensuing shakeup of Europe, the successive wars, the 1848 revolution and the further french adventures under Napoleon III., the unification of Germany under Prussian rule, Europe had shaken off its medieval corset and was donning a new and roomier and airier overcoat. Grand changes took place : medieval city walls were torn down and replaced by wide avenues, the railway continued its inexorable march throughout Europe, new inventions popped up constantly, manufactories were set up in rising cadence, fortunes were made overnight and lost as well. Newspapers and books propounded a Golden Age, while on the other hand Socialism arose to answer the misery of the working classes that made this explosion of iniciative, production and riches possible. The stile in furniture. buildings, dresses was solid, massive and ornate, with throwbacks to ancient styles - and new fashions were constantly arriving.
As for chess men in Central Europe, the old Biedermeier chess men of coffeehouse fame had seen their day - more massive chessmen according to the British influence of Stauntons were being experimented and proved a lasting design - the Old Vienna or Coffeehouse style. Regency chessmen in french style were produced in oodles by turners, as well as a bevy of variegated chess men invented by the odd turner himself. Still, in a time of fluid style changes, a quite unusual type of longstemmed and stately chessmen cropped up, quite distinct from Biedermeier, and well ahead of the succeeding Old Vienna form.
The set depicted at the top of this article is probably the most luxurious expression of these Upright chessmen which must have appeared in Vienna around mid-19th century, and probably due to the cost never were made in great numbers. This set shown above must have been a prize handed out at the 1863 Vienna chess tournament, came in a customized cassette, and was sold on ebay two years ago for a comparatively large sum.
A tale of two cities
In this atmosphere of constant change and innovation it is understandable that some experimenting and experienced hands came up such ravishing chessmen - which maintain some features of Biedermeiers, and add some qualities found for example in Edinburgh chess men.
A very likely story (1) - not corroborated by any documents, how could it be? - will have two turners from Vienna waltz through Europe and land in London following their graduation as "Geselle" (master apprentice) - where they worked for two years and picked up techniques, habits and tricks of London turners. And on their return these roving joiners established their own fine furniture joinery in Vienna - this was very likely a going concern with all the growth, construction and new apartments being created in those heady days in the Imperial capital. And one of the things they brought back was the memory of the Edinburgh Uprights, which they proceeded to cross with Biedermeier traits in a design of their own. A great yarn (2)- se non e vero e ben trovato - but whatever it is we have the fact that some turners in Vienna - and possibly elsewhere in the monarchy - produced such tall and elegant chessmen in small numbers - most likely only on order.
The Schlechter-Lasker chess set
On January 7 of 1910, Emanuel Lasker set out to defend his title of World Champion in a match against the Austrian prodigy Carl Schlechter. The match had been long in the making, with mainly Lasker engaging in lengthy negotiations and contacts in order to secure a sufficient purse for the match, and had finally been closed with the help of Austrian and Berlin sponsors. The match was destined to run for 10 games, half of them to be played in Vienna, and the second half in Berlin. In Vienna the match was organized by the Rothschild-sponsored Wiener Schachclub , under the direction of Club organizer Georg Marco, also the editor of the renowned Wiener Schachzeitung. Two of the games took place in the spacious rooms of the Club itself, then the match was moved to the Café Marienbrücke. (3)
Among the many things organized by Marco, what with publicity, the technical organization of the match, conversations with patrons, journalists, chess rats of all kinds - consisted the feat of ordering a special chess table with good chessmen from a reputable joinery and turnery - this is the famous Schlechter-Lasker chess set cum table, which has survived two World Wars and provides the best known specimen of the Austrian Uprights. The joinery seems to have been named Faludy or Kisfaludy - Hungarian names quite current in Vienna then as now - and very likely is the same one founded by those two traveled cabinet makers to London's turning workshops!
Following the Vienna match leg, the table became one of the sacred exhibits in the posh Vienna Chess Club - until the arrival of the Nazi surge in 1936, at which point the club was vandalized and plundered of library and archives. At this point, somebody whisked the table and set away before the club was officially invaded and closed by the Nazi authorities. (4)
Next stage, the table appears almost unscathed among the ruins of a bombarded apartment house on the outskirts of Vienna, is acquired by Herbert Huber, the founder of the Wiener Schachverlag , a chess publisher and chess shop in Central Vienna. Herbert Huber kept table and set for over 40 years in the back room of his little chess cave in the Josefstadt district of Vienna - only showing it to a chosen few of his many visitors. In the 1990ies Huber's successor Michael Ehn sold it to the Berlin collector and chess enthusiast Stefan Hansen, one of the initiators of the Berlin Lasker Society, dedicated to reviving and vindicating the memory of the great German chess gladiator - an act of public repentance, one might say! It is there the table now rests as a revered and much admired showpiece. (5)
The second half of the 19th century in England is often termed as the "Victorian"age - but on the continent, specifically in Austria and Germany, this is known as "Gründerzeit" - the Founders Age. In the course and following the perturbations of the Napoleonic wars and the ensuing shakeup of Europe, the successive wars, the 1848 revolution and the further french adventures under Napoleon III., the unification of Germany under Prussian rule, Europe had shaken off its medieval corset and was donning a new and roomier and airier overcoat. Grand changes took place : medieval city walls were torn down and replaced by wide avenues, the railway continued its inexorable march throughout Europe, new inventions popped up constantly, manufactories were set up in rising cadence, fortunes were made overnight and lost as well. Newspapers and books propounded a Golden Age, while on the other hand Socialism arose to answer the misery of the working classes that made this explosion of iniciative, production and riches possible. The stile in furniture. buildings, dresses was solid, massive and ornate, with throwbacks to ancient styles - and new fashions were constantly arriving.
As for chess men in Central Europe, the old Biedermeier chess men of coffeehouse fame had seen their day - more massive chessmen according to the British influence of Stauntons were being experimented and proved a lasting design - the Old Vienna or Coffeehouse style. Regency chessmen in french style were produced in oodles by turners, as well as a bevy of variegated chess men invented by the odd turner himself. Still, in a time of fluid style changes, a quite unusual type of longstemmed and stately chessmen cropped up, quite distinct from Biedermeier, and well ahead of the succeeding Old Vienna form.
The set depicted at the top of this article is probably the most luxurious expression of these Upright chessmen which must have appeared in Vienna around mid-19th century, and probably due to the cost never were made in great numbers. This set shown above must have been a prize handed out at the 1863 Vienna chess tournament, came in a customized cassette, and was sold on ebay two years ago for a comparatively large sum.
A tale of two cities
In this atmosphere of constant change and innovation it is understandable that some experimenting and experienced hands came up such ravishing chessmen - which maintain some features of Biedermeiers, and add some qualities found for example in Edinburgh chess men.
A very likely story (1) - not corroborated by any documents, how could it be? - will have two turners from Vienna waltz through Europe and land in London following their graduation as "Geselle" (master apprentice) - where they worked for two years and picked up techniques, habits and tricks of London turners. And on their return these roving joiners established their own fine furniture joinery in Vienna - this was very likely a going concern with all the growth, construction and new apartments being created in those heady days in the Imperial capital. And one of the things they brought back was the memory of the Edinburgh Uprights, which they proceeded to cross with Biedermeier traits in a design of their own. A great yarn (2)- se non e vero e ben trovato - but whatever it is we have the fact that some turners in Vienna - and possibly elsewhere in the monarchy - produced such tall and elegant chessmen in small numbers - most likely only on order.
The Schlechter-Lasker chess set
On January 7 of 1910, Emanuel Lasker set out to defend his title of World Champion in a match against the Austrian prodigy Carl Schlechter. The match had been long in the making, with mainly Lasker engaging in lengthy negotiations and contacts in order to secure a sufficient purse for the match, and had finally been closed with the help of Austrian and Berlin sponsors. The match was destined to run for 10 games, half of them to be played in Vienna, and the second half in Berlin. In Vienna the match was organized by the Rothschild-sponsored Wiener Schachclub , under the direction of Club organizer Georg Marco, also the editor of the renowned Wiener Schachzeitung. Two of the games took place in the spacious rooms of the Club itself, then the match was moved to the Café Marienbrücke. (3)
Among the many things organized by Marco, what with publicity, the technical organization of the match, conversations with patrons, journalists, chess rats of all kinds - consisted the feat of ordering a special chess table with good chessmen from a reputable joinery and turnery - this is the famous Schlechter-Lasker chess set cum table, which has survived two World Wars and provides the best known specimen of the Austrian Uprights. The joinery seems to have been named Faludy or Kisfaludy - Hungarian names quite current in Vienna then as now - and very likely is the same one founded by those two traveled cabinet makers to London's turning workshops!
Following the Vienna match leg, the table became one of the sacred exhibits in the posh Vienna Chess Club - until the arrival of the Nazi surge in 1936, at which point the club was vandalized and plundered of library and archives. At this point, somebody whisked the table and set away before the club was officially invaded and closed by the Nazi authorities. (4)
Next stage, the table appears almost unscathed among the ruins of a bombarded apartment house on the outskirts of Vienna, is acquired by Herbert Huber, the founder of the Wiener Schachverlag , a chess publisher and chess shop in Central Vienna. Herbert Huber kept table and set for over 40 years in the back room of his little chess cave in the Josefstadt district of Vienna - only showing it to a chosen few of his many visitors. In the 1990ies Huber's successor Michael Ehn sold it to the Berlin collector and chess enthusiast Stefan Hansen, one of the initiators of the Berlin Lasker Society, dedicated to reviving and vindicating the memory of the great German chess gladiator - an act of public repentance, one might say! It is there the table now rests as a revered and much admired showpiece. (5)
Schlechter against Lasker, 1. game in the Viennese Chess Club - Georg Marco third from the right....
|
Schlechter-Lasker Uprights....
|
The Schlechter-Lasker set (set B) is in great shape after the tumults of two World Wars - the chapped parts of the black pieces prove it has been extensively played with AFTER the match, during the 28-odd years till the end of the Club.
This is the archetype of Austrian uprights - less fancy than set A , but more serviceable. It features tall columnar kings and queens with two collars, a kind of a lemon-like spherical bulge with side cuts at the top, and rudimentary circular decoration to the tops, wide splayed bases both on kings, queens and bishops. Bishops sport a tulip-like top to the bishops with a button finial, as well as a narrow diagonal cut. These pieces are not weighted - this was not very current in then Austria - and the flat and wide bases provide sufficient stability. Quite interesting is the fact that all the stems widen slightly towards the top, a very smart detail! The knights are indifferently carved, most likely on the lathe, but in one piece, with the top set off by a large cropping from the wide base.
Today, these pieces would not pass for tournament play - the kings are almost 125 mm high, far above the suggested height used in today's tournament play!
This is the archetype of Austrian uprights - less fancy than set A , but more serviceable. It features tall columnar kings and queens with two collars, a kind of a lemon-like spherical bulge with side cuts at the top, and rudimentary circular decoration to the tops, wide splayed bases both on kings, queens and bishops. Bishops sport a tulip-like top to the bishops with a button finial, as well as a narrow diagonal cut. These pieces are not weighted - this was not very current in then Austria - and the flat and wide bases provide sufficient stability. Quite interesting is the fact that all the stems widen slightly towards the top, a very smart detail! The knights are indifferently carved, most likely on the lathe, but in one piece, with the top set off by a large cropping from the wide base.
Today, these pieces would not pass for tournament play - the kings are almost 125 mm high, far above the suggested height used in today's tournament play!
Anatoli Karpov with the Uprights - facing Richard Lutz - not the Grandmaster, but the german railway boss at a chess promotion event in 2012
Stefan Hansen explaining a fine point to a well-known gent
three chess greats - GM Juri Averbakh, chess historian and multiple author Isaac Linder, GM Victor Korchnoi
hard to resist grabbing hold of 'em
|
Grandmaster Helmut Pfleger with the Uprights
who seems quite taken with these large chess men....
very visual and tactile pieces....
good steeple on these pieces too....
|
The opulent set has proved to be a great showpiece for the Lasker Society - a prominent photo setting for diplomatic visits, and media occasions. It is a good thing that it is publicly visible this way. From a collectors standpoint, what is not so good is that the origin of the chess set from the first match leg - that is from Vienna - somehow gets swept ... under the table.........
Ebay University
Anybody familiar with the match might justly consider this a unique set - a one-off made specifically for the match. But a bit of mulling the matter over might quickly convince anybody that this cannot be the case: where did Marco get the idea of getting this set? He certainly did not invent it, so it must have been around, and as normal Marco must have found out where it was made, and gone off to get one for the match! Marco as manager of the Vienna Chess Club was certainly acquainted with anything to do with chess that happened in the town and most of the monarchy. Meaning while this set was not made in hundreds, it must have been produced in sufficient notoriety for Marco to know about it.
Proof of this came for me on ebay - ebay for the discerning collector with a lot of time is an unending fountain of information, a true online university... - when another set in the same vein was offered and sold - to the curators chagrin, not to the Museum!
Ebay University
Anybody familiar with the match might justly consider this a unique set - a one-off made specifically for the match. But a bit of mulling the matter over might quickly convince anybody that this cannot be the case: where did Marco get the idea of getting this set? He certainly did not invent it, so it must have been around, and as normal Marco must have found out where it was made, and gone off to get one for the match! Marco as manager of the Vienna Chess Club was certainly acquainted with anything to do with chess that happened in the town and most of the monarchy. Meaning while this set was not made in hundreds, it must have been produced in sufficient notoriety for Marco to know about it.
Proof of this came for me on ebay - ebay for the discerning collector with a lot of time is an unending fountain of information, a true online university... - when another set in the same vein was offered and sold - to the curators chagrin, not to the Museum!
|
an exact duplicate of Set B
|
This beauty (set C) is a bit shorter than the original Lasker-Schlechter set, the knights heads are a wee bit more elaborate, and the upward widening on the stems seems to be absent - otherwise it is a dead copy, proving the set was made in variations, probably due to only being produced on order! This set is also in a much better shape than set B, with no sign of usage or chapped varnish on the dark side.
Upright Tendencies
In times where fashions developed in fluid and unpredictable ways, revolutionary chess sets certainly did not pop up from one days to the other. The Biedermeier chess men continued to be made in constant evolution until the end of the 19th century and even beyond, while slowly the form of the future standard set of Central Europe, the Coffeehouse or Old Vienna set, became established under the persistent influence of the Staunton sets, and more or less arrived at a standard form around 1870 - 1880. The straight-stemmed sets like the 1910 Schlechter-Lasker did have their predecessors. Certainly chess pieces with features of the past and the future were made, hybrid sets, which incorporate features of many origins. On top of that, turners in Vienna , Budapest and Prague certainly had their own ideas, styles and influences - but with chess sets as the least of their concerns!
fairly high, straight stems...
Old Vienna Q & K ca. 1930
|
superbly handcarved knight´s heads - in one piece!
typical Old Vienna Q & K ca. 1900
|
The attractive Hybrid set shown above (Set D) bears some ressemblance to set B and C - mainly the crowns on kings and queens, which seem derived or at least related - rounded spheres with vertical cuts rising to a top dome. On the other hand, it has typical Old Vienna rooks and bishops. In later Old Vienna sets, the collars are much thicker and lower, and the straight stem is hidden - in fact the more recent the set, the more Q & K ressemble pine cones! And vice versa, the older an Old Vienna set is, the straighter will be the stem, with less prominent collar rings. This hybrid set D might date from anywhere between 1860 and 1900 - the rounded bases , and the charming knights are signs of quality which later on slowly started to disappear..........
|
|
This small set (set E) shown above exemplifies some of the Upright traits - straight stem, modest or even stunted collars on kings, queens and bishops - but already a nascent Old Vienna rook, with concentric superimposed rings! This pocket set is from Hungary - and the knights confirm the origin somewhere close to the 1860ies till 1880ies.
Rebirth or time tangents?
The attempt to run the Uprights to the ground - to identify them as an existing chess set type - might well end here - the evidence is scanty, nothing points to a mainstream fashion or even particular tendency, nor are great numbers of surviving sets around - which would point to a widespread acceptance of a doting chess playing public. But as it is, there is nothing new under the sun, and surprises are one of history's cutest tricks.
|
|
|
|
These most fetching chessmen (set F) revive the old mold - wide bases, svelte, high stems, minimal collars, one-piece knights with capably done heads - of set B and C. The pawns are almost the same as in the Schlechter_Lasker sets. But queens and kings recover the highly ornate crowns of set A - separately turned ornate two-part finials fixed to the top. This is not a solution for rough-and ready chessmen, therefore - these chessmen were made as luxury playing sets. Where and when? Although they crop up in Austria - I have seen several of them in varying sizes - they do not seem to originate there. (6)
They were also not made in Czechoslovakia, as GM Karel Mokry, a connoisseur of Czech chess men has assured me. Still, the finials on the bishops and kings do remind one of similar toppings on Czech Tournament Chess Men, a style evolved around 1910 in then Bohemia. Hungary is a possibility, but there is absolutely nothing that connects these sets with the lands of the Magyars.
This practically leaves us the Soviet Union as the country where these Uprights were made - most likely in the interwar years, as chess men after the 2. World War tended to be very shoddy, and conform more to functional tournament standards. As these "Soviet Uprights" are usually sold by persons with an immigrant background from the former Soviet Union, this seems to confirm the guess. Where and when these Uprights were turned is a question shrouded in mystery - somebody knows, but they ain't telling !
But there are signs that the company or combinat which made them still persisted in fairly recent days..........
They were also not made in Czechoslovakia, as GM Karel Mokry, a connoisseur of Czech chess men has assured me. Still, the finials on the bishops and kings do remind one of similar toppings on Czech Tournament Chess Men, a style evolved around 1910 in then Bohemia. Hungary is a possibility, but there is absolutely nothing that connects these sets with the lands of the Magyars.
This practically leaves us the Soviet Union as the country where these Uprights were made - most likely in the interwar years, as chess men after the 2. World War tended to be very shoddy, and conform more to functional tournament standards. As these "Soviet Uprights" are usually sold by persons with an immigrant background from the former Soviet Union, this seems to confirm the guess. Where and when these Uprights were turned is a question shrouded in mystery - somebody knows, but they ain't telling !
But there are signs that the company or combinat which made them still persisted in fairly recent days..........
|
|
An ebay offer (set G) - from an Ucrainian seller! - obviously a very recent set, which replicates traits of earlier Uprights, like wide bases on kings , queens and bishops. The two-piece finials on K & Q have evolved into a simpler, but very chic one-piece finial. Wide and flat bases are the rule, obviously to make weighing superfluous. The knights are in one piece, but the tops are somewhat crudely lathe-cut. The distinguishing and exhilarating details are the tall and extremely thin stems, almost as in German toy sets, so it is obviously made to please!
This set might be a single creation, but I doubt it, the finish is too perfect to be a one-off production, the wood so beautifully grained, and the varnish so perfectly applied on the dark side. One might legitimately suspect that these chess sets were made in India by somebody with access to the "old glories" - since India is where old chess set types are generally replicated - but this remains to be substantiated.
This set might be a single creation, but I doubt it, the finish is too perfect to be a one-off production, the wood so beautifully grained, and the varnish so perfectly applied on the dark side. One might legitimately suspect that these chess sets were made in India by somebody with access to the "old glories" - since India is where old chess set types are generally replicated - but this remains to be substantiated.
Conclusions
The Austrian Uprights - which sets A, B and C exemplify - must have been made continuously in very small numbers - possibly only on order - in Vienna , in the second half of the 19th century, until WW 1. Traits of them may be suspected or recognized in other sets of the times, especially high-priced chess sets. They are therefore quite rare, and it is very hard to trace them to any determinated locale or crafts shop - for the simple reason that two World Wars have destroyed most documents in the patent registers and company registers.
Throwbacks or repliques of Uprights seem have been made in the Soviet Union in the 20th century - as well as more recently. Where and in which manufactory, remains to be discovered. In any case, like all historic forms, it is always possible to come up with remakes. Capable turners can duplicate such sets if the incentive or the interest so permits. I await comments, critiques and possibly pertinent clarifications, they will be published.....
(c) Chess Museum 2014
Throwbacks or repliques of Uprights seem have been made in the Soviet Union in the 20th century - as well as more recently. Where and in which manufactory, remains to be discovered. In any case, like all historic forms, it is always possible to come up with remakes. Capable turners can duplicate such sets if the incentive or the interest so permits. I await comments, critiques and possibly pertinent clarifications, they will be published.....
(c) Chess Museum 2014
Notes
(1) conversation with Michael Ehn, Vienna. Ehn is a highly reputed chess historian with an encyclopedic knowledge of Vienna's chess heritage.....check his website....
(2) Ehn has some documentary evidence for this assertion....
(3) acc. to Warren Goldman, Carl Schlechter, Caissa Editons, Yorklin/DE 1994, pp. 393 ff The Café Marienbrücke does not exist any more today.....
(4) at least that was the last information I have....
(5) In passing, let it be stated that the Berlin leg of the match was played on a quite pedestrian German Staunton style set, which has not been preserved as far as I know. see Goldman, page 416, for photographic evidence....
(6) compare this set with another one shown in Recent Entries ....
(2) Ehn has some documentary evidence for this assertion....
(3) acc. to Warren Goldman, Carl Schlechter, Caissa Editons, Yorklin/DE 1994, pp. 393 ff The Café Marienbrücke does not exist any more today.....
(4) at least that was the last information I have....
(5) In passing, let it be stated that the Berlin leg of the match was played on a quite pedestrian German Staunton style set, which has not been preserved as far as I know. see Goldman, page 416, for photographic evidence....
(6) compare this set with another one shown in Recent Entries ....
Comments
Guy Lyons, Scotland
I have been to the Edinburgh chess club on a number of occasions,( once with fellow CCI member Peter Armit ) and have seen no evidence to prove that the surviving Edinburgh pattern chessmen, were not made in Edinburgh. The knight carvings alone, look nothing Lund, nor Jaques for example. The likelihood of the earliest Edinburgh Uprights being Scottish made by a local turner seems quite plausible.
In 1840 the London turner William Hallett (of Holbourne) offered chessmen for sale, and only by name mentioned the Edinburgh men. In 1998 there was an article in the Chess Collector (by Charles Oppenheim), which featured this advert, which appeared on letters posted in London, as a form of money making.
No books published from 1998-late 2009, featured this ( 1840 dating )... (the actual) Dating...of the Upright would be some years after 1810 I think.
Guy Lyons, Scotland
I have been to the Edinburgh chess club on a number of occasions,( once with fellow CCI member Peter Armit ) and have seen no evidence to prove that the surviving Edinburgh pattern chessmen, were not made in Edinburgh. The knight carvings alone, look nothing Lund, nor Jaques for example. The likelihood of the earliest Edinburgh Uprights being Scottish made by a local turner seems quite plausible.
In 1840 the London turner William Hallett (of Holbourne) offered chessmen for sale, and only by name mentioned the Edinburgh men. In 1998 there was an article in the Chess Collector (by Charles Oppenheim), which featured this advert, which appeared on letters posted in London, as a form of money making.
No books published from 1998-late 2009, featured this ( 1840 dating )... (the actual) Dating...of the Upright would be some years after 1810 I think.
