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SCULPTURED STONES Of SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 306 VIII. ON SOME POINTS OF RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN THE ART OF THE EARLY SCULPTURED STONES OF SCOTLAND AND OF IRELAND. BY J. ROMILLY ALLEN, F.S.A.SooT. s beeha n t I assume somy b d e antiquaries thae peculiath t r stylf eo art we are accustomed to call Celtic, for want of a more precisely descriptiv es origi it term d n Irelandi n ha , d spreaan , d thenc otheo et r parts of Great Britain, and even to the continent of Europe. No doubt it is true that Celtic art attained its highwater-mark of excellence in the Irish MSS. of the best period, such as the Books of Kells, e wortb Armagh y h d ma whilDurrow t an i , et inquirinbu , o what g t extent the scribes who illuminated these beautiful codices were in- debted to foreign sources for the ideas they elaborated with such unrivalled ingenuity d alsan o; whethe e similaritieth r s which exist betwee e Christiath n n monument e lltth s hdatino t h g8t froe mth centurie n varioui s s part f Scotlando s , Ireland, England d Walesan , , may not be accounted for by development along parallel lines, rather than by copying one from the other. To the Fellows of this Society the most interesting part of the investigation will be the tracing of any points of resemblance it may possible b o detect e t betwee e earlnth y sculptured stone f Scotlano s d and those of Ireland. My attentio s beeha nn recently directe o thit d s subjec y severab t l very good rubbings, which have bee frieny , takenm me y dsen b no t t Mr D. Griffith Davies of Bangor, of some hitherto unpublished cross- shafts and fragments at Clonmacnoise, King's County, Ireland. Photograph f thes o se her ar ee reproduced (fig I thin . d 1)t i an k; wil t a oncl e strike s anyonfamiliai o wh e r wit e earlth h y sculptured stones of Scotland, that the designs upon the large shaft at Clon- macnoise, more especially the figure subjects, are in many particulars very like what one would expect to see on an upright cross-slab in Perthshire or Forfarshire. e shaf Th s sculpturei t relien di foun o f r face s follows:a s — EARLY SCULPTURED sfoMEs OF SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 311 Front.—Divided into three panels, containing— (1) A beast with floriated tail, and below it an ecclesiastic on horse- back, carrying a crozier over his shoulder. staA ) g (2 wit s tonguit h e protruding s righit d t an fore-le, g fixed in a rectangular frame or hobble. (3) Figures of four men placed swastica-fashion, with their limbs interlaced, and grasping each other's beards with one hand, and lona ge nex locth f tk o man' s hair wit othere hth . Back.—Divided into three panels, containing— (1) Interlaced work, composed of three vertical rows of spiral knots. (2) A beast with crest forming interlaced work, eating or strangling a serpent. (3) A pair of men placed symmetrically opposite to each other, with their fore-locks interlaced mako t s a efigura o s , f eigheo t knots, and grasping each other's wrists. Riylit Side.—Divided into four panels, containing— (1) The tail of a serpent interlaced. spiraA ) (2 l design, consistin largx si ef g o tripl e spirals arrangen di a double row, with smaller spirals tilling in the spandrils. (3) Interlaced work, composed of knot No. 265, arranged in two vertical rows, each knot facing alternately upward downd san - wards (being the same as pattern No. 633, only with knots in a double instead of a single row). (4) Zoomorphic interlaced work. Left Side.—Divided into three panels, containing— (1) A pair of serpentine creatures, whose bodies form interlaced work, derived from a twelve-cord plait, each biting the tail of the other. (2 spiraA ) l design, consistin eighf go t large triple spirals, arranged in two vertical rows of four each, with smaller spirals filling in the spandrils. pai A f serpentino ) r (3 e creatures, whose bodies form interlaced work of the same type as pattern No. 402 B1 and portion of an interlaced pattern composed of knot No. 265, arranged in a 1 Thi somewhas si t different frointerlacey man d patter t recordenye Scotlandn di . e deriveb y dma froaddiny t I b m 0 gpatter61 extr. No na cord t eaca s h side,'and 312 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, MAY 10, 1897. single vertical row, facing alternately upwards and downwards (being the same as pattern No. 633, but with an extra cord on each side). The ecclesiastic on horse- back on the Clonmacnoise slab at once calls to mind the three hooded horseme stone th en no t aMadoesS t , Perthshired an , the single hooded horseman on the stone at Eilean M6r, Argyllshire. The stag below and the beast above with the floriated tail (perhaps intended for a lion, like those on the stones from Papil and Bressay e th n i n Shetlandi w no , Jfational Museum, which are also associated with cowled monks) apparently have some symbolical significance when combined with the horseman, say eas not thougto y is it h what meanin intendeds gwa . Photographs are exhibited for compariso a rubbin f o n g of a fragment at Clonmacnoise (fig. 2) with a horseman and two beasts having floriated Fig. 2. Fragment of Cross-Shaft (?) at Clonmac- tails, one biting the fore-leg of noise. Photographed fro ma rubbin Dy b g. Griffith Davies. the other; and a portion of a making them twis r croso t s over between each pai f knots o r pattern i s a , n .No. 705, froe Boomth f Durrow o k e samTh e. pattern t wit e knotbu , hth s arrangea n di double instead of a single row, occurs on another cross-shaft at Clonmacuoise (O'Neil . S) pi4 2 . EARLY SCULPTURED STONES OF SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 313 cross-shaft at Killeany, Aran Mor, Galway^ with a horseman upon it (figs. 3 and SA). The latter was sent to me by Prof. A. C. Haddon. n earlA y Irish drawing opriesa f horsebackn o t s cowhi , l thrown back and his head tonsured, but not in the Celtic way, is to be found in the Fig. 3. Fragment of Cross-Shaft (?) at Killeany, Fig. 3A. Fragment of Cross-Shaft at Killeany, Aran Mor. Front. Aran Jlor. Back. From photographs by Prof. A. C. Haddon. margie Book a th pagf Kells,f o n o i n et LukS e xvii. 2-7. (Celtic Ornaments Boohe th f Kells,f o o pi. 43.) As far as I am aware, the only instance of the curious hand-grasping men placed swastica-fashion which occur n e sidScotlani s th f eo n o s di a recumbent monument at Meigle;1 although four serpents similarly 1 Proa. Son. Ant, Scot., vol. xii. pi. 25. 314 PKOCEEDlNGS Of THE SOCIETY, MAY 10, 1897. arranged are to be seen on a stone at Eilean .Mor,1 Argyllshire, and the hand-grasping idea is perhaps to be detected in the figure of a mermaid (?) on another stone at Meigle.2 Groups of men placed swastica-fashion 4 arc used decoratio e inth f thno e Book of Kells; Lismore th 3 e Crozier ; the north cross at Kilklispeen,5 Co. Kilkenny; the cross of SS. Patrick and Columba in Kells churchyard;6 the cross in the market place at Kells;7 the cross of Muredach at Monasterboice;8 and the north cross at Clonmacnoise.9 Hand-grasping figures not placed swas- tica-fashion may be noticed in other pages of the Boole of Kells, in the t GalS l Boo f Fragmentsko . 1395,,No anothed 11an t GalS r l MS.e Th 13 w swastica arrangement anhand-graspine dth a g o possiblt idey e ama du e yb Scandinavian source, though the treatment is otherwise peculiarly Celtic. The spiral knot, with the awkward reverse curve of the band to join it 011 to the next knot, on the top panel of the back of the Clonmacnoise shaft, may be observed on the monument known as ' Sueno's Stone ' at Forres, on one of the narrow faces of which are also a pair of mermen,13 with their tails forming knot-work like those on the bottom panel of the Clonmacnoise shaft. r GriffitM h Davie s madsha eseriea f rubbingso larga f o se numbef o r inscribee th d cross-slab t Clonmacnoisesa , whic hopee able h b o et o st complete this year. Mr R. A. S. Macalister has these rubbings in his cared intendan , o publist s h them eventually comparisoA . e th f o n rubbings with the illustrations given in Petrie's Christian Inscriptions in the Irish Language has shown what an urgent need there is to have Capt. White, Archaeological Sketches, Kyntyr Knapdaled ean , pi. 2S). 1- Stuart's Sculptured Stones of Scotland, vol. i. pi. 132, No. 18. Palceoy. Soc. Publ., , firspi89 . t t Mark'pagS f eo s gospel. s 4 O'Neill's Fine Arts of Ancient Ireland. ° O'Neill's Sculptured Grosses of Ancient Ireland, pi. 7 . 6 Ibid., pi. 28. 7 Ibid., pi. 34. 8 Ibid., . pi15 . » Ibid., pi. 24. 10 Celtic Ornaments from Booke th of Kells,. 37 pis , , 276 .