Rosemarkie Description of stone
Event ID 1020975
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1020975
Rosemarkie 3, Ross & Cromarty, possible panel fragment
Measurements: H 0.25m, W 0.27m, D 0.05m
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NH 7372 5763
Present location: National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh (IB 127) (cast in Groam House Museum).
Evidence for discovery: found during grave-digging in the churchyard at Rosemarkie and given to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland in 1885.
Present condition: all the edges are broken but the condition of the surviving carving is good.
Description
This tantalisingly small fragment is carved in relief on one face with part of a narrative scene involving beasts and a human head. The head is seen in profile facing left, with strongly defined nose, large eye, pointed beard and long hair, and the neck appears to the body of an animal. His nose is being licked by a large animal with bared teeth, its jaw and neck outlined by an inner incised line. Behind the man the snout of an animal grasps his hair, and below his head a third beast seems to be sniffing him intently. The first and third beasts have the same shell-like ear. Above this menacing scene are the four taloned feet of a large creature, the rest of whose body is missing.
Date: eighth or ninth century.
References: ECMS pt 3, 86-7; Henderson 1990, [15-16[; Henderson & Henderson 2004, 155; Seright & Henderson 2013, 11.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2017.
