Studio: international art (14.1898)

Celtic Sculpture

with the circular ring, which feature distinguishes
the Celtic cross from all other kinds. It has been
suggested that the ring is, like the Alpha and
Omega, symbolical of eternity,* but appears far
more probable that it is nothing more than a sur-
vival of the circular wreath or medallion within
which the Chi-Rho monogram of Christ is gene-
rally enclosed on the coins of Constantine and on
sculptured Christian sarcophagi of Italy and Gaul,

* The only evidence for this is a Latin inscription on a
monument at Milan, illustrated in Allegranza’s “ Monu-
menti Antichi di Milano,” p. 19.

and the lintels of doorways in Syria of the third
and fourth centuries.

We have already seen that on the earliest Chris-
tian monuments in Great Britain the cross with
expanded ends to the arms is entirely enclosed
within the circle, exactly in the same way as the
Chi-Rho monogram.t Subsequent developments,
as we shall show, have come about by increasing
the length of the arms of the cross so that they
project beyond the ring, or decreasing the diameter
of the ring, which would produce the same result.

The monument standing in St. Madoes Church-
yard, Perthshire, shown in Fig. 3, affords a very
beautiful instance of a highly
decorated cross-slab in the later
Celtic style, perhaps of the ninth
century. It is in advance of the
cross-slabs previously described,
on account of the stone being
dressed into a regular architec-
tural form instead of being left
in its rough state, and because the
sculpture is in relief instead of
being incised. The material ot
which the St. Madoes cross-slab
is composed is old red sandstone,
with quartz pebbles embedded in
it. The tool-marks on the quartz
pebbles are as sharp and distinct
as the day they were cut, perhaps
a thousand years ago. They now
project about an eighth of an inch
beyond the surrounding surface,
thus giving an exact measurement
of the amount of weathering which
has taken place during ten cen-
turies of exposure to the weather.

Here the ends of the arms of
the cross are seen projecting be-
yond the ring. The rounded
hollows between the arms follow
as a natural consequence, being
introduced to improve the aesthetic
appearance of the design. Some-
times the hollows are square,
stepped, or cusped, but the object
is the same. The St. Madoes
stone affords a typical example of
the most common form of pre-

t Transitional forms between the Chi-
Rho monogram and the cross within a
circle having expanded ends to the arms,
exist at Kirkmadrine and at Whithorn,
Wigtownshire.

FIG. 8.—CROSS OF KING FLANN (a.D. 904) AT CLONMACNOIS,
KING’S COUNTY

[From a photograph by T. Mansel Franklert, Esq.)

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