Description of stone
Date 18 May 2016
Event ID 1010519
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1010519
Rossie Priory, Old Kirk of Rossie, Perthshire, Pictish cross-slab
Measurements: H 1.68m, W 1.17m, D 0.30m
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NO 2915 3085
Present location: Kinnaird Mausoleum (Old Kirk of Rossie)
Evidence for discovery: recorded by Stuart in the old kirkyard in the mid nineteenth century.
Present condition: some wear and the left arm of the cross has been defaced.
Description
This very substantial slab is carved in both incision and low relief on both broad faces with a wealth of detail. There is a cross on both faces but whereas the background on face A is dominated by mythological animals, that on face C is dominated by secular themes. On face A the arms of the quadrilobate cross extend out to the edges of the slab, and the entire cross is outlined by a roll moulding, as is the circular disc at its centre. The cross is designed as an equal-armed cross with squared terminals on a short shaft, and the cross appears again in the voids of the interlace filling the central disc. The upper and lower arms are filled with interlace, while the one surviving side-arm is filled with square key pattern. There are also traces of key pattern on the arcs between the arms. The shaft contains looped interlace forming eight circular patterns. To the right of the upper arm is a ‘formidable man’ symbol wearing an animal mask and threatening with a large axe the bird in front of him, whose head is turned back to watch the axe. A beast’s head symbol is tucked in below the bird. On the left of the upper arm is a quadruped with bird’s feet and a human head. There are three cameo scenes one above the other on either side of the lower arm and shaft: to the right, a kneeling quadruped with head turned back to capture in its jaws the head of a serpent entwined through its body, above a horned and goggle-eyed beast and, at the bottom two entwined beasts. These last have human forelegs and human bearded heads on elongated necks. They face away from one another, as do their entwined serpent-headed tails. On the left, a long-necked beast walks left over a beast with ball and claw feet, also facing left, with its jaws clamped round the head of a human figure with arms and legs flailing. His right ankle is captured in the jaws of a serpent with a fishtail. Below again are two confronted beasts, each holding in its mouth the head of a long-necked bird, the body of which lies over the beast’s shoulder.
On face C there is a wide decorative border along the sides and the top, and the interlace filling the cross flows out of the top and side-arms into the border. The cross is again outlined by roll moulding, but here the moulding continues round the spaces around the cross. A central disc is defined by a roll moulding and filled with square key pattern. The lower arm of the cross contains a vignette of an aristocratic horseman riding to the left on a high-stepping horse, and there are two similar horsemen, bearded and apparently unarmed, in the shaft below. To the left of the upper arm is a striding man holding a large bird by the neck in each hand. These birds have been identified as cranes. To the right of the upper arm is a stylised angel. To the left of the lower arm and shaft are two Pictish symbols, crescent and V-rod and Pictish beast, above a kneeling beast with a second head at the end of its tail. To the right of the shaft are two horseriders, the lower of which appears to be a woman sitting side-saddle on a stationary horse, while the bearded rider above is on a galloping horse, with two hunting dogs above him.
Date: eighth or ninth century.
References: Stuart 1867, pl 98; ECMS pt 3, 306-8; RCAHMS 1994, 103; Fraser 2008, no 191.
Compiled by A Ritchie 2016
