Detail of the tombstone commemorating Alexander Omay, 1639, in the churchyard of Errol Parish Church, with skeleton with arrow of death, scythe and hourglass, and a figure known as the 'King of Terror ...

Description Detail of the tombstone commemorating Alexander Omay, 1639, in the churchyard of Errol Parish Church, with skeleton with arrow of death, scythe and hourglass, and a figure known as the 'King of Terrors'.

Date 2/1986

Collection Papers of Betty Willsher, historian, St Andrews, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 2235019

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of A 26970

Scope and Content Detail of the table tomb of Alexander Omay, Errol Parish Church Graveyard, Perth & Kinross This part of the elaborately carved table tomb features a figure of a skeleton with a scythe and dart, the Weapons of Death. He is the 'King of Terrors', about to hurl his arrow at the figure on the opposite side of the panel. At his feet lays an hourglass, symbolic of a lifetime which has run its course. Above the hourglass are crossed sexton's (gravedigger's) tools, a further emblem of mortality. This monument uses designs taken from an illustrated book by Francis Quarles' (1592-1644) called 'Emblems, Moral and Divine', first published in 1635. Francis Quarles describes emblems in the introduction to his book as 'but a silent parable', and indeed the illustrations in his book are there to reinforce the meaning of Biblical quotations and moral poetry. This table tomb, with its ornately carved coped top, commemorates Alexander Omay. It is inscribed: 'HERE LYES ANE FAITHFUL SERVANT OF GOD/MR ALEXANDER OMAY PREACHER OF THE GOD'S WORD/IN MONEYDIE FOR THE SPACE OF 30 ZEIRS WHO DEPARTED THIS LYF/THE 11 OF AVGUST 1639 AND OF HIS AGE 66'. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/2235019

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap