MARTIN, Robert Wallace
(b. 1843, London, d. 1923, London)

Chess piece

1902
Stoneware, height 8,5 cm
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

This chess piece, a white pawn from 'Martin Ware' chess set, was modelled by Robert Wallace Martin and made by R.W. Martin & Brothers, Southall, in 1902. It is a moulded man's head and shoulders with incised chain-mail vest with black pigment on a pedestal base.

This white pawn is an example of the renewed nineteenth-century interest in stoneware, which took inspiration from the past, although it also demonstrates the ability of the Martin brothers to create original and characterful pieces.