Chess piece

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.