prize13-3, Exercise 2: What the pieces show and cannot show

Model answer (check the details):

The bishop. It shows that the elephant of shatranj had been re-imagined as a churchman, with a mitre, so the game had been absorbed into a Christian society where the church was central. It cannot show how the bishop moved: in the twelfth century it probably still moved by the old short diagonal leap, but the carving does not tell us that.

The queen. She sits enthroned with a hand to her cheek. This shows that the counsellor had become a queen in European minds, and that high-status craftsmen took care over such figures. It cannot show her move: she was still a weak piece, moving one square diagonally, centuries before she became the strongest piece (Chapter 4).

Care: the rules in use come from texts, not from the figures; the pieces are evidence for appearance, status and culture.