I met my husband Vinay 35 years ago; we were both mad about Kurasawa and Vinay happened to look like the young Samurai warrior who in the end became a farmer. I began a chess set as a present for Vinay. I started it in plasticine and very figurative. I did the two Queens, the Priest, and one young Samurai, then gave up.

So I have gone full circle. Ten years ago I took up ceramic art and began making the chess set again. I also began making Japanese Kabuki figures and Geishas and Japanese musicians, about 2' high. All built on the coil pot principle. I also began Japanese calligraphy which I love. So the whole thing was coming together.

This time my set was better based. Full little bodies, the hand can get around when playing. Roughly 6 inches high. Still the startled sad faces of the pawns from Kurasawa's Seven Samurai. But I have done away with the figurative side. I didn't want little dolls, I wanted characters that people could identify with when they played with them. Because the Japanese don't use different coloured squares, I chose to use an all mirror glass table to reflect the figures making them seem taller than they really are.

I wanted a feeling "of Japan", not an illustration. So the red laquer surrounding the mirrored table is just right. And the straw in the drawers that hold the figures when they are not being used throws the jewel like colours of the glazed figures into relief.

Even when not used I wanted this chess set to be a lot of characters who even when put away in their drawers of straw still seem to row and challenge each other and maybe the two Queens gossiped. My other Japanese inspired figures of Geisha, Kabuki and musicians, the 2 foot high ones, all have this affect of being alive. Friends say when they come into the studio that the sculptures seem to have stopped in mid-conversation. I wanted the same feeling in this chess set.


Sizes:

Table: 29" x 29", 5.5" deep. Top of table: Mirror glass squares. Wooden surround painted red lacquer.

Cabinet: 24" x19", 21" high. Two reed baskets full of straw to house the chess figures, cabinet painted black lacquer, clear glass top to view figures through. Open front for the drawers.

Ceramic Chess Set 32 Figures: Roughly 6" x 8", All figures different sizes, as they are all hand built and different characters.