Insects Chess Set and Board

In Europe during The Age of Enlightenment, an expanding population of prosperous, literate, scientifically-curious, and increasingly secular Europeans sought out decorative artworks, like chess sets, with natural specimens of many kinds as subjects. The Italian Insects Chess Set and Board (c 1790), with each ivory or ebony piece painstakingly modeled after a specific species of butterfly or moth, is a prime example.