Historical chess sets

What are some of the most interesting historical chess sets that you have seen? Recently I've come across this one from Iran (12th century) and I find its crude and minimalistic design oddly beautiful. From the museum's description:

This nearly complete chess set is one of the earliest extant examples in the world. The pieces are abstract forms: the shah (king) is represented as a throne; the vizier (the equivalent of the queen) is a smaller throne; the elephant (bishop) has two tusklike protrusions; the horse (knight) has a triangular knob representing its head; the chariot (rook) is rectangular with a wedge at the top; and the pawns are faceted hemispheres with knobs.

metmuseum.org

This 18th century Dutch set sparked my passion for historical chess sets and was the first antique set in my collection.

@EfimLG47, thank you for sharing these photos.
I think that set is magnificent! Quite beautiful. May I ask? Is the top of the King, Queen and Bishop something other than wood? Perhaps stone, ivory or some form of metal?

I know it is 'historical' but there is a futuristic sense to it (to me) ... something out of a sci-fi movie - I can imagine a city skyline silhouetted with the shapes of buildings in the form of many of these pieces.  

@Powerdigit - yes indeed, the finials on the King, Queen and Bishop are made of bone.

@Powerdigit - my pleasure. I can share more, because there are so many beautiful antique styles and patterns out there. But I don't want to occupy this thread.

a lovely Dutch set, its a pity that the reproduction and new market is so obsessively focussed on Jaques Staunton sets and marginal modern variations of them.  

Wow that Dutch set is really beautiful – not just the design, but the tasteful colours and the soft finish. My only problem is the lack of differentiation between the king and queen, they are so similar it's almost deliberate which is bad design from a playing point of view, but I love the look of them so much! Very graceful. Would love to see any more you have @EfimLG47

@Powderdigit - apologies! The combination of soft touch keyboard and auto correct is deadly.

& fragile , always loved the knights from that age !

Oh, that's an exceptional beauty!

Another interesting design is the French Directoire style. There is a bit of a discussion going on which of the pieces is the knight and which is the bishop and whether the Directoire is a style of its own or just a variation of the Régence style. The set belonged to the collection of the late Gareth Williams, from which I acquired it. It is not only shown in his famous book "Master Pieces", but the very set also made it on a stamp of the Republic of Congo. I would normally date Directoire sets to the 18th century, but this came in a box inscribed with "Paris 20 Mai 1826". Assuming that the box is original, the dating would be early 19th century rather than late 18th, I suppose.

Beautiful set! I used your images to compile an image for my stylesheet where I document historical sets, as I think it beautifully exemplifies the directoire style. Here it is, if you’re interested:

Very nice!