The Romans Vs Gladiators hand painted themed Chess set by Italfama

• Beautifully detailed.
• Made in Italy.
• Painstakingly hand painted.
• 3.25 inch king.
• Superb gift packaging.
• Presented with a 15.75 inch Spanish board.

THE PIECES
Nobly dressed, with his body plate armour and long red cloak, the Roman Emperor is clutching his sword, ready to do battle. The graceful queen is dressed in robes and a cloak, whilst the bishop looks very important and ready for the Senate. A chain-mailed clad soldier on a rearing steed and brandishing his sword portrays the knight and a Roman palace plays the rook.

By comparison, the gladiators are modest in their appearance. In spite of this, the leading couple look elegant in their dress whilst the bishop stands tall and proud. A gladiator wrestling an enormous lion makes for a fascinating knight whilst the rook is portrayed as a dungeon. Poised and armed, the pawns are ready for the Gladiator games to commence

From the crowns on heads down to chain mail and sandals on their feet, the detail in all these pieces is exquisite.

The Romans vs Gladiators Chess Men are also available without the board and either way, make a beautiful gift.

THE HISTORY
Latin for ‘swordsman’, the earliest Roman gladiator games go back to 246 BC during the initial stages of Rome's First Punic War against Carthage. In honour of his dead father, Brutus Pera, Decimus Iunius Brutus Scaeva had three pairs of gladiators fight to the death in Rome's Cattle Market Forum.

Contests sometimes included animals such as tigers, elephants, bears, rhinos and giraffes. Commonly, hungry animals pitted against other hungry animals although at times hungry animals fought against gladiators in contests called venationes ("wild beast hunts").

Please note that as these pieces are hand painted, there may be some inconsistencies in the level of detail and colour and therefore your pieces may be very slightly different from the images shown. Any inconsistencies however are minimal.

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.