The Alice In Wonderland Cardinal Blue Chess Set By Berkeley Chess

Alice In Wonderland Chess Set featuring a stunning blue gloss chess board and Cardinal Red and Cream Alice Through The Looking Glass inspired chessmen.

• Stone crushed resin chess pieces.
• Striking cardinal red and cream colouring
• Superb detail.
• Iconic Alice In Wonderland themed characters.
• Matched with stunning Spanish blue erable board.

Based on Lewis Carroll’s (pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) characters from ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ and ‘Through the Looking Glass’. these wonderful pieces have been lovingly created from stone crushed resin in this lovely cardinal red and rich cream colouring.
The stories were written to entertain and amuse the young children of The Dean of Christ Church where Carroll was a lecturer. The heroine, Alice, is based on the Dean’s eldest daughter, Alice Liddell. It was because her children were so entranced by his stories, that their mother persuaded Carroll to have them published. You will recognise all the main characters from Carroll’s tales brought to life on a beautiful 19.7 inch lacquered blue erable chess board from Spain.
Through The Looking Glass And What Alice Found There, the sequel to the original Alice’s Adventures Underground (later known as Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland or simply Alice In Wonderland), famously featured a huge game of chess between two rival royal families – those of the Red Queen and the White Queen. This section of the timeless tale must have been derived from Victorian society’s passion for chess playing, sovereignty and military progression. Indeed, the chess armies in the story are clearly inspired by the now legendary Staunton chessmen designs.

The chess characters in Through The Looking Glass are a fitting successor to the playing cards in the original tale. The card guards lampooned the aesthetics of 19th century playing card characters – which have been adapted by Berkeley Chess into their Victorian Sets.

As for this simply exquisite Alice In Wonderland Chess Set, the designs of the pieces have been inspired directly by the original engraved illustrations for the Alice’s Adventures Underground and Through The Looking Glass books. The iconic engravings by John Tenniel gave life to the beloved characters for the first time, and set the standard for all following interpretations of the stories. The designs of the chessmen are as follows:

The King: The White King
The Queen: Alice
The Bishop: The Mad Hatter
The Knight: The White Knight
The Rook: Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee
The Pawn: White Rabbit

The chess board in this set has been expertly crafted by Rechapados Ferrer in Spain using precision laser cutting techniques and stunning wooden veneers combined with expert lacquering and finishing. The underside of the board is finished in a satin veneer that is a different colour from the playing surface of the board. The veneers used for the underside may vary in colour from batch to batch.