Elgin Description of stone
Event ID 1037137
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1037137
Elgin, Moray, Pictish cross-slab
Measurements: H 2.08m, W 0.91m tapering downwards to 0.80m, D 0.18m
Stone type: granite
Place of discovery: NJ c 2158 6284
Present location: within the ruins of Elgin Cathedral.
Evidence for discovery: found lying flat during roadworks in the High Street in 1823, near the site of the medieval church of St Giles. First illustrated by Skene in 1832.
Present condition: the top of the slab is damaged and the base is missing, and overall there is much weathering.
Description
Despite the coarse-grained granite, the carving on this splendid slab was remarkably detailed. It is carved in relief on both broad faces within a roll-moulded border, and the top may have been slightly rounded. Face A bears a cross on a broad rectangular plinth, which effectively divides the face into two panels. The cross is outlined by roll mouldings, including its central disc, and the small circular armpits are sunken. The cross is filled with interlinking panels of zoomorphic interlace, but the basal plinth appears to have been plain. In the background are four evangelists with their symbols. Below the cross is a single panel filled with four intertwined and biting quadrupeds.
At the top of the single panel on face C is a square containing back-to-back pairs of double spirals, flanked by serpentine motifs, above two ornate Pictish symbols: double disc and Z-road above crescent and V-rod. Below them is a hunting scene, facing left, with at least four horsemen, one of them armed, with the pre-eminent rider at the top with a bird of prey behind him on his out-stretched left arm. A large bird, perhaps the prey, stands in front of the rider’s horse. There is also a stag being harried by a hound, and at least two other hounds.
Date range: ninth century.
References: Skene 1832, 41; ECMS pt 3, 134-6; Henderson & Henderson 2004, 128-9, 149-50; Fraser 2008, no 156.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2018
