Jump to content

List of Crucifixion Plaques

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Angel form the Rinnegan Plaque, late 7th or early 8th century

The following is a complete list of the nine known Early Medieval Irish Crucifixion plaques. Eight are extant and one is known from a 19th century watercolour reproduction. Four have an established provenance, the others are grouped based on figurative similarities to these known examples, leading to the suggestion that the individual groups were produced by single workshops.

The Crucifixion plaques are a rare example of figurative in early Irish art, and their iconography and form seems to be influenced by earlier illuminated manuscripts and stone sculpture.[1]

The Rinnegan Plaque is dated to c. 700 AD and is 21 cm (8.3 in) in height, making it much larger and pre-dating the other examples by over three centuries, and is the finest of the group. Based on their artistic style and iconography, archaeologists dated the other plaques to within the late 10th and early 12th centuries. The other plaques are square-shaped and of a similar size (c. 9 cm (3.5 in) x 9 cm (3.5 in)), and made of cast bronze or copper alloy.[2] They are all made using openwork with the exception of the Lismore Plaque.

The plaques

[edit]

In 1980, the archaeologist Peter Harbison identified the then known six plaques as a distinct type. He divided them into the Clonmacnoise (in County Offaly and Dungannon, County Tyrone groups, based on their find-spots, iconography and form, including the pose of the figures and decoration of the borders.[3] Harbison believes that, except for the c. 700 AD Rinnegan plaque, they all dated to c. 1100 AD.[4]

Since Harbison's publication, the Dungannon Plaque is now localised to Tynan, County Armagh, near the find-spot of a recently found plaque from Anketell, County Monaghan, while another example is now thought to originate from Lismore, County Waterford. Based on these findings, the archaeologist Griffin Murray further divided the plaques into the "Tynan", "Clonmacnoise", "Klllalon" (or "Kells") groups and "others" (i.e. those unlocalised either by find-spot or style and the very early and geographically distinct Rinnegan Plaque).[5]

Work Title Date Find spot Material Height Harbison number Murray Grouping Current location
Rinnegan Crucifixion Plaque c. 700AD[6] Rinnagan, near Athlone, County Westmeath Bronze 21 cm (8.3 in) n/a n/a National Museum of Ireland (NMI), Dublin
Clonmacnoise Crucifixion Plaque 10th century[7] Clonmacnoise monastery, County Offaly Bronze, gilt openwork, repoussé[8] 8.0 cm (3.1 in) 2[9] Clonmacnoise[10] NMI
Lismore Crucifixion Plaque c. 1090—1113[11] Lismore, County Waterford brass[12] 7.6 cm (3.0 in) 4[13] Killalon[14] NMI
Tynan Crucifixion Plaque c. 1100[15] Tynan, County Armagh Bronze[16] 8.2 cm (3.2 in) Tynan[10] NMI
Anketell Crucifixion Plaque c. 1110[17] Emyvale, County Monaghan gunmetal[12] 8.0 cm (3.1 in) 5[18] Tynan[10] NMI
Killaloe Crucifixion Plaque 11th century[19] Killaloe, County Clare leaded gunmetal[12] 7.3 cm (2.9 in) 3[20] Killalon[10] NMI
Academy Crucifixion Plaque ? Unlocalised[21] brass[12] 7.2 cm (2.8 in) Killalon[10] NMI
Kells Crucifixion Plaque 11th or 12th century Kells, County Meath brass[12] 8.2 cm (3.2 in) 6[22] Killalon[14] British Museum, London[23]
Mayo Crucifixion Plaque ? County Mayo ? 8.5 cm (3.3 in)?[24] 1[25] Clonmacnoise[10] Lost[26]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Johnson (1998), p. 95
  2. ^ Johnson (1998), p. 96
  3. ^ Murray (2014), p. 286
  4. ^ Harbison (1980), pp. 24–38
  5. ^ Murray (2014), pp. 287–289
  6. ^ Ó Floinn; Wallace (2002), p. 212
  7. ^ Moss (2014), p. 272
  8. ^ Johnson (1998), p. 98
  9. ^ Harbison (1980), pp. 26–29
  10. ^ a b c d e f Murray, p. 292
  11. ^ Murray (2014), pp. 300–301
  12. ^ a b c d e Murray (2014), p. 301
  13. ^ Harbison (1980), pp. 29–30
  14. ^ a b Murray, pp 295–296
  15. ^ Hamlin; Haworth (1982), pp. 112, 115
  16. ^ Johnson (1998), p. 101
  17. ^ Murray (2014), p. 292
  18. ^ Harbison (1980), pp. 30–31
  19. ^ Harbison (1980), p. 28
  20. ^ Harbison (1980), pp. 28–29
  21. ^ Murray (2014), pp. 297, 308–309
  22. ^ Harbison (1980), p. 32
  23. ^ "Plaque, 1983,0701.1". British Museum. Retrieved 4 May 2025
  24. ^ Harbison (1980), p. 24
  25. ^ Harbison (1980), pp. 26–27
  26. ^ Harbison (1980), pp. 24, 34

Sources

[edit]
  • de Paor, Máire. "An Openwork Crucifixion Plaque from Clonmacnoise". The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, volume 84, no. 1, 1954. JSTOR 25509155 ISSN 0035-9106
  • Harbison, Peter. "The Bronze Crucifixion Plaque said to be from St John's (Rinnegan), near Athlone". ̄Journal of Irish Archaeology volume 11, 1984. JSTOR 30001578
  • Harbison, Peter. The Crucifixion in Irish Art. Dublin: Columba Press, 2000. ISBN 978-1-8560-7278-6
  • Hamlin, Ann; Haworth, R. G. "A Crucifixion Plaque Reprovenanced". The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, volume 112, 1982. JSTOR 25508821 ISSN 0035-9106
  • Harbison, Peter. "A lost crucifixion plaque of Clonmacnoise type found in County Mayo". ̄In: Murtagh, Harman. Irish Midland Studies: Essays in Commemoration of N.W. English. Athlone: Journal of the Old Athlone Society, 1980. ISBN 0-9503-4281-5 ISSN 0790-0155
  • Johnson, Ruth. "Irish Crucifixion Plaques: Viking Age or Romanesque?". The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, volume 128, 1998. JSTOR 25549845
  • MacDermott, Máire. "An Openwork Crucifixion Plaque from Clonmacnoise". The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, volume 84, No. 1, 1954. JSTOR 25509155 ISSN 0035-9106
  • Moss, Rachel. Medieval c. 400—c. 1600. "Art and Architecture of Ireland" series. London: Yale University Press, 2014. ISBN 978-0-3001-7919-4
  • Murray, Griffin. "Irish crucifixion plaques: a reassessment. In: Mullins, Juliet; Ni Ghradaigh, Jenifer (eds): Envisioning Christ on the Cross: Ireland and the Early Medieval West. Dublin: eds J. Mullins, J. Ní Ghrádaigh and R. Hawtree, 2014. ISBN 978-1-8468-2387-9
  • Murray, Griffin. "The provenance of an Irish Crucifixion plaque". Archaeology Ireland, volume 26, number 4, issue 102, 2012
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Crucifixion plaques.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Crucifixion_Plaques&oldid=1302344438"