Daniel Wilson Delt.
William Douglas Sculpt.
ST ANDREWS' SARCOPHAGUS
There can be no question that many of those sculptured monuments are designed to commemorate particular events, though they have long since proved faithless to their trust. Most of such, however, would probably be of less interest to us than the minute and varied information which we are still able to deduce from the primitive historic memorials. We see in them the warrior on horseback and on foot, armed with sword, spear, battle-axe, and dirk, and bearing his circular buckler on his arm,—a much larger shield than that previously described among the later relics of the Pagan era, and, indeed, closely resembling the Highland target, which continued in use in Scotland till the final extinction of the patriarchal system and hereditary customs of the Highland clans, after their last struggle on Culloden Moor. Nor are the sculptures less minute in their illustrations of domestic habits and social arts. In Plates II. and VI. of Mr. Chalmers' valuable work, we have representations of ancient chairs, and figures apparently of priests and monks. In the former, also, and in Plate XIII., are a harp and harper, the latter executed with much spirit, though now greatly defaced; while hunting and hawking scenes frequently occur, accompanied with very graphic representations of the beasts of chase. There is, moreover, a peculiar style running throughout the whole of these sculptures, and a certain action and contour in the figures and animals, which mark them with as distinctive a character as belongs to any medieval or modern school of art. The engraving on Plate IV. represents one of the most elaborate of these Pictish hunting scenes, fully answering to the description of the old Scottish chronicler, of "horsemen, fuitmen, and dogges, halkis and serpentis." It occurs on what is believed to have formed part of a stone coffin, which was dug up in the immediate vicinity of St. Andrew's cathedral, and is now preserved in St. Mary's College there. Along with this slab, which measures five and three-fourths feet long, by two and one-fourth feet broad, there was found what appears to have formed one end, and part of the other, of the same sarcophagus or monument. Both are covered with intricate knotwork, and in the more perfect of the two there are four compartments, two of which are occupied each with a pair of apes, and the others with globes, each encircled with two serpents. Not the least curious feature of this elaborate design is the introduction of well executed apes and other animals, which we would have supposed entirely unknown to the ancient sculptor. Besides these the ram, the horse and hawk, the fawn, the greyhound pursuing the fox in the thicket, and the tiger or leopard, as the fierce assailant of the horseman seems to be, are all executed with great fidelity and spirit. In addition to these there is a nondescript monster, a sort of winged griffin, preying upon a prostrate ass. But by far the most valuable portions of this curious design are the human figures, with their variety of character and costume. Here manifestly is the Patrician, with his long locks and flowing robes, and his richly decorated dirk at his side, while the plebeian huntsman betrays his humble rank, not only in his homely dress and accoutrements, but even in the lean and half-bred cur which forms his companion in the chase. But the engraving will furnish a much more satisfactory idea of these curious details than any description could convey. The most common decoration of this remarkable class of native Scottish monuments, apart from the symbols and sculptured figures so frequently introduced, is the interlaced knotwork which appears to have been so favourite a device of Celtic art. It occurs on the sculptures, the jewelry, the manuscripts, and the decorated shrines and book-cases of early Irish Christian art, and has been perpetuated almost to our own day on the weapons and personal ornaments of the Scottish Highlanders. The annexed illustration represents a very characteristic example of the common Highland brooch, from the original in the collection of C. K. Sharp, Esq. It is of brass, rudely engraved, evidently with the imperfect tools of the native mountaineer. The tongue is of copper, and the brooch measures four and one-tenth inches in diameter. Amid its decorations will be recognised the triple knot, the supposed emblem of the Trinity, along with other interlaced patterns, such as occur in the bosses of sepulchral and monumental crosses of the seventh and eighth centuries. Precisely the same ornaments may be seen on the Highland targets, preserved among the memorials of the field of Culloden; while other combinations of this favourite pattern formed the universal decoration on the handle of the Highland dirk, from the earliest known examples to those belonging to the same fatal field, on which the unbroken Celtic traditions of Scotland were involved in the fortunes of the fated Stuart race.
Celtic Dirks.