Field Visit
Date 21 January 2002
Event ID 613198
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/613198
Caledonia, a robed and helmeted female figure, sits between two standing youths with her arms extended to touch their heads which are crowned with laurels. The kilted youth on her right holds a sheaf of corn to his chest with his left arm, and carries a curved scythe by his side with his right hand. Another sheaf leans against his leg behind,. The youth on Caledonia's left wears a short tight jerkin and close-fitting trousers. He holds a staff in his right hand and a long-handled plough (? looks shaped at end) in his left. The relief on the seat beneath Caledonia depicts a standing shepherd with crook, with a kneeling sheep at his feet; a gate (?) behind it, and a standing horse forming the rounded corner of the seat to the shepherd's right. A seated dog and standing cow have corresponding positions on his left.
The two youths are described by Woodward as a highland reaper and a ploughboy. (1)
In 1840/41 No.3 George IV Bridge was the Highland and Agricultural Society's museum.
(No.1 was Peter Lawson & Son, Nursery and Seedsmen to the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland).
Inspected By : D. King
Inscriptions : Incised gothic letters on middle step of stepped base:
Semper armis nunc et industria
Signatures : None Visible
Design period : 1836-1837
Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0704)