Job Smeets explains “the chess set is the masterpiece you have in an oeuvre of a classical playbook. Inspired by the 16th century Green Vault (Grünes Gewölbe) collection in Dresden, even Johann Melchior Dinglinger would have been jealous of the set.”

“The chess set is always the art piece where different elements of your work come together, it’s such a complex work, it has to have so much. You have also these actors on the board that need their own identity, so you can look to the full spectrum of your body of work.” explains Smeets.

The set contains elements from Studio Job’s back catalogue and most famous collections, from the Farm Collection comes the boot, the roses from the Faena pieces, the horse from our collection Chamber in New York. Retrospective elements of all the collection are found within each piece created in excruciating detail. Each one is composed as a miniature puzzle to totem of Studio Job art icons, the sword, the cross etc… as well as reflecting the fundamental production methods of the artists, the bronze casting, highly detailed hand-painting, and gilding all the most famous elements of the Studios’ sculptural work. The board itself is 1m square, hand sculpted and cast in bronze with a polished and patinated finish to create the black and white chequerboard details.