Attribution
Unknown

Reverse
Carved in the round.

Object Condition
The piece has been split in half vertically and rejoined. Chipped in places at the base.
Missing: tip of the spear to the right of the king's head.

Comments
Longhurst (1929) and the Victoria and Albert Museum online catalogue (accessed 2011) note its similarity to two chess pieces in the British Museum, London (1859.0516.1 (Dalton 394) and 1857.0804.34 (Dalton 393)) suggesting that they may have originally been part of the same set.
Slot behind king's head, possibly to hold a marker when the king was in check (also present in the Oettingen-Wallerstein example).

Provenance
Purchased from Mr S. G. Fenton, 'The Old Curiosity Shop', 33 Cranbourn Street, London, W.C., in 1912.

Bibliography
Victoria and Albert Museum, Review of the Principal Acquisitions during the years 1911-1938, (London, 1912), p. 8.
M. Longhurst, Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2 vols (London, 1927 and 1929), II (1929), p. 56, pl. LI.
D. M. Liddell, Chessmen (New York, 1937), p.144.
H. and S. Wichmann, Chess: the Story of Chesspieces from Antiquity to Modern Times (New York, 1964), pp. 30, 287-88, pl. 63.
H. Stafski, Kataloge des Germanischen Nationaslmuseums Nürnberg. Die mittelalterlichen Bildwerke, Pt. 1. Die Bildwerke in Stein, Holz, Ton und Elfenbein bis um 1450 (Nuremberg, 1965), p.237.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), no. 247.