Detail of end panel of tablestone commemorating William Baxter (died 1762) with emblems of mortality.

Description Detail of end panel of tablestone commemorating William Baxter (died 1762) with emblems of mortality.

Date 1993

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

Catalogue Number C 23405/12

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 801679

Scope and Content Detail of the table tomb of William Baxter, Old Parish Church, Duffus, Moray This shows a recessed panel on the top of the table tomb. Within it are carved a coffin, two 'deid' (dead) bells (which would be rung at funerals), an hourglass (emblem of life's brevity), a skull and crossed bones, and a spade and turf-cutter, the tools of a sexton (gravedigger). These stark emblems of death are carved upon this stone to confront the passer-by with his or her own mortality, reminding them that they will soon be dead like the person below the tomb. Symbols of mortality were ultimately intended to make people lead more virtuous lives, as after death would come Judgement, and an eternity in Heaven or Hell. This table tomb commemorates William Baxter, who died in 1762. It is inscribed: 'HERE LYES THE BODY/OF WILLIAM BAXTER/LAWFULL SON TO WILLIAM/BAXTER WHO DEPARTED/THIS LYFE MARCH 1762'. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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