A bishop's trappings of office, depicted so unambiguously in the Lewis originals, are instantly recognisable, having remained virtually unchanged in the intervening eight centuries. Mitre on head and crozier in hand, our pewter bishop casts a benevolent eye over the dining table.

Unearthed on the Isle of Lewis in 1831, in the wilderness of Scotland's remote Outer Hebrides, the 12th century Lewis chessmen are exquisitely carved in walrus ivory, and very likely of Scandinavian origin. Of the seventy-eight pieces known today, the British Museum's collection of sixty-seven is one of its most popular attractions.