Jedburgh Description of stone
Event ID 1085179
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1085179
Jedburgh 12, architectural panel
Measurements: H 720mm, W 470mm, D 65mm at face B to 203mm.
Stone type: creamy white sandstone.
Present location: Jedburgh Abbey Visitor Centre (H.HXB.8).
Evidence for discovery: this slab was discovered during excavations in 1984, built into the Abbey complex in a secondary location ‘within a dry-stone wall between Rooms 8 and 11’ (Gallagher 1995, no 2).
Present condition: the edges of the slab are damaged, apart from the central portion of face B, and the ornament is somewhat worn.
Description
Only faces A and B are largely intact, and the extreme roughness of the other two faces, together with the wedge-shaped section of the slab, suggests that it was designed to be used in such a way that only faces A and B would be visible. Much of the carving has been carried out, not very expertly, using a deep grooved technique to give the illusion of relief, with more lightly incised details.
Face A has a roughly square panel containing eight lines radiating out from the centre to the edges of the panel, forming an equal-armed cross with wedge-shaped arms and V-shaped arm pits. A central frontal figure has arms outstretched and a halo or nimbus with radiating lines behind his head. In each corner of the panel in the spaces between the arms of the cross is an incised single or double concentric circle with a central pit: single circles top left and bottom right, and double circles top right and bottom left. A row of six single circles with central pits runs along the upper side of the square frame. These circles have been very precisely incised, probably using a divider with an engraver on one tip, and each has the same diameter of 48mm, as do the inner circles of those between the arms of the cross.
Below this panel are three human figures with upstretched arms, a detached head and at least three detached limbs, together with three, possibly four, cones with incised diagonal lines. The detached limbs comprise an arm with fingered hand and an upside-down head to the left of the left-hand figure, an arm with fingered hand below the two right-hand cones, and possibly another arm to the left of the right-hand figure. There is also a small boss in the left-hand corner of the scene.
Face B has lost part of its right-hand edge, particularly towards the foot. In the upper part is a frontal stocky figure with thick arms hanging downwards, and around the head a dished nimbus which is ornamented with incised radiating lines. Below and to the left is a second figure in profile facing right, with the right arm stretching up towards what may be traces of a harp. Both on face A and on face B, all the faces are frontal with incised circular eyes and rectangular noses. Where complete, all the figures have an incised V representing the top of the legs, rather than a loincloth, which indicates that they are naked, and fingers and toes are shown.
Date range: tenth century.
Primary references: Lewis & Ewart 1995, 106-8.
Research by A Ritchie 2019
