WHAT would have happened if a Roman soldier had met an ancient Chinese warrior? They’d have played chess, of course. At least, they do in a sculpture being designed by York artist Vincent Lyles to celebrate the friendship between York and its Chinese ‘twin’, the ancient walled city of Nanjing.

Vincent was invited to Nanjing to see for himself the Nanjing International Friendship Park where his sculpture could one day stand.

He was one of more than a dozen sculptors from around the world invited to submit designs for what will effectively be a sculpture park celebrating Nanjing’s links with its twinned cities around the world.

Vincent worked as a physiotherapist in York for years before taking up sculpture.“So I understand how bodies fit together!” he says.

He uses the art studio facilities at York College, where he had already been working on a larger-than-life sculpture of a Roman soldier sitting back-to-back with a modern British soldier as part of a project to celebrate York’s military history.

His Nanjing sculpture will show a Roman soldier sitting opposite a Chinese soldier from the Ming dynasty, with a chess board between them. The chess set will feature pieces based on landmarks from both York and Nanjing, including York Minster, Clifford's Tower, Nanjing’s Zhinghua Gate and Bixi, a Chinese mythical creature that is part dragon, part turtle.

Vincent said the initial reaction to his proposal had been very positive. He now has until July 15 to submit a small-scale model to a commissioning panel in Nanjing. If the panel decides to go ahead with the commission, Vincent’s model will be scaled up into a slightly larger-than-life sculpture which will sit in the park.

Vincent’s visit to Nanjing was brokered by York businessman Will Zhuang, who helped establish the twinning arrangement between York and the Chinese city.