This is a special edition of the
RED QUEEN from a chess set that toy/game inventor
JOSEPH WETHERELL sculpted in 1965. It is a 3D translation of John Tenniel's original illustrations for
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and
Through the Looking Glass (1871).
The
Red Queen was first depicted in Lewis Carroll’s
Through the Looking Glass. There were two queens illustrated by John Tenniel for Lewis Carroll. The first, the Queen of Hearts, known for her quote “Off with their heads!” was a foul-tempered monarch in
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. But it was the
Red Queen that taught Alice the rules of promotion using chess as the motif — specifically that Alice is able to become a queen by starting out as a pawn and reaching the eighth square at the opposite end of the board. A Red Queen is able to move swiftly and effortlessly in the game of chess. By the end of the tale, Alice considers the
Red Queen “the cause of all the mischief" and shakes the queen in a fit of pique when suddenly the queen turns into Alice’s kitten - awakening Alice from the dream world. Alice realizes that symbolically "taking" the
Red Queen was coincident to her defeat of the Red King.
Originally offered as a limited run of a few thousand cast polymer sets in 1966, it has not been available for over 50 years and the original molds have been lost for decades. To make these fascinating characters available once again, Joseph had samples from his personal collection digitally scanned and uploaded them to Shapeways for printing in black, white and now red.
To order the a full set of standard black & white pieces click on the links below and order the recommended quantity. (The chessboard is not included.)
QUEEN (order 1 white & 1 black)
KING (order 1 white & 1 black)
BISHOP (order 2 white & 2 black)
KNIGHT (order 2 white & 2 black)
ROOK (order 2 white & 2 black)
PAWN (order 8 white & 8 black)