IRISH CROSSES

The sculptured standing stones and crosses of Early Christian Ireland form an impressive archeological and art-historical corpus. Some 50 survive from the period up to about a.d. 800. No single sequence of development stands out. Types are too varied, and contributing influences—from the eastern Mediterranean, Gaul, Pictish Scotland, and elsewhere in the British Isles—are too diverse and persistent. The earliest examples are rough stones incised with simple crosses and Celtic ornament in the primitive but elastic curvilinear style of the initials of the Cathach of St. Columba and date probably from the end of the 6th century. Examples are the Reask and Kilfountain pillars (both County Kerry). The simple 7 foot-high stele at Kilnasaggart (County Armagh) has a long-stemmed cross incised above, a longish Latin text in uneven rounded script incised in the middle, and an equal-armed cross with double-spiraled ends within a circle incised below. It can be dated around a.d. 700 by its inscription. In the 8th and 9th centuries more sophisticated monuments appeared. One type, paralleled in the Pictish areas of Scotland, is the tall slab, usually sculptured on both faces, with large interlace-filled crosses and animal or hunting scenes, or riding figures. Examples are the Carndonagh and Fahan Mura crosses (both County Donegal), and the panels from Banagher and clonmacnois (both County Offaly). A Pictish-looking hunting scene occurs on the cross at Baelin (Westmeath). The high cross first appears in the late 8th century. Typically, it has a four-sided vertical shaft rising from a pyramidal base with a distinctive ringhead and a heavy stone circle, like a halo, surrounding the intersection of arms and vertical shaft. One of the finest, at Moone (County Kildare), is an elegant granite monument, over 16 feet high. It is carved with scenes that include the Twelve Apostles, the Flight into Egypt, the Crucifixion, the Temptation of St. Anthony, St. Paul and St. Anthony in the desert, the Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace, and a scene perhaps representing Christ in Majesty. The style is clear and assured, but the figures are no more than flat, doll-like narrative symbols. The styles of the figure carving vary, but

a flat profile rendering is usual. Stone-carving seems to have continued relatively unchanged through the period of Viking raids and settlement. A fine group of great crosses of the 10th century employs a wide range of scriptural subjects, as well as animal and other themes; a chief example is the Cross of Muiredach, nearly 18 feet high, at Monasterboice (County Louth). Another late group of 12th-century date shows large-scale figures of bishops and crucifixions. The crosses were set up as preaching stations in the countryside and were also regularly erected in and around monasteries. A monastic plan drawn in the Book of Mulling shows no less than ten.

Bibliography: h. s. crawford, Handbook of Carved Ornament from Irish Monuments of the Christian Period (Dublin 1926). a. k. porter, The Crosses and Culture of Ireland (New Haven 1931). e. h. l. sexton, A Descriptive and Bibliograpical List of Irish Figure Sculpture of the Early Christian Period (Portland, ME 1947). M. and l. de paor, Early Christian Ireland (2d ed. New York 1960). f. henry, La Sculpture Irlandaise, 2 v. (Paris 1933); Irish Art in the Early Christian Period (to 800 A.D.) (Ithaca, N.Y.1965).

[r. l. s. bruce-mitford]