Orans in Irish Christian Art

The Orans in Irish Christian Art
Author(s): Helen M. Roe

Source: The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Vol. 100, No. 2 (1970),
pp. 212-221
Published by: Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25509749
Accessed: 27-06-2016 09:36 UTC
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted
digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland
This content downloaded from 131.247.112.3 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 09:36:18 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
212
THE ORANS IN IRISH CHRISTIAN ART
Helen M. Roe
The purpose of this note is to draw attention to three carved stones which
have come to light within the last year or so and, from their discussion, to show
the occurrence in Ireland of a once widespread early Christian representational
mode. Two of these stones are in Co. Meath, at Dunshaughlin and Staholmock
respectively, and the third at Conwal, Co. Donegal, all sites of religious founda
tions which seem to date back to the 5th and 6th centuries.
The Dunshaughlin Slab

In the spring of 1969 when mowing grass in the churchyard of St. Seachnaill's
Church (C. of I.) a small piece of carved stone was observed protruding above
the sod. When dug out this proved to be an oblong slab, neatly shaped and
dressed which measured some 59 cm. high by about 26 cm. wide and 7 cm.
thick.
One face of the stone is carved in relief with the figure of a man standing
frontally, his legs close together with feet heel to heel in profile. His arms are
flexed at the elbows so that his hands?now very indistinct?are upheld at
about shoulder-level. He is distinctively clad in a high-waisted, knee-length
garment, rather like an apron, but whether the upper part of his body was
originally shown covered or naked cannot now be said (PI. 30,a).
The upper part of the stone having been above ground probably accounts
for the weathering of this area with the resultant loss of detail of the hands and
the reduction of the features of the face to their original components?large
eyes below marked orbital ridges; a long nose, flattened and broadening toward
the tip; the mouth no more than a lipless slit. A short chin beard may have
been indicated by incised lines but this is no longer certain. Thick short hair
covers the head and it is interesting to note that the crown of the head rises
above the top of the slab in a way reminiscent of the head of Christ in the
Crucifixion on the east side of the pillar stone at Carndonagh, Co. Donegal.
The lower part of the carving is so chipped and abraded that it is not possible
THE ORANS IN IRISH CHRISTIAN ART 213
to determine if the feet were supported on a suppedaneum or other form of

foot-rest.
The Staholmock Slab

Some months after the discovery of the Dunshaughlin carving a broken slab in
the old churchyard here was observed by Miss Nora O'Sullivan (see Miscellanea,
postea; I am indebted to Miss O'Sullivan for bringing this stone to my notice).
Both slab and figure are somewhat larger than the Dunshaughlin work but,
unhappily, the outer parts of the slab are broken and except for the left ear,
the whole face has been shorn off. As at Dunshaughlin the man stands frontally,
his legs straight and slightly apart with feet shown heel to heel. His arms are
bent at the elbows and his hands held slightly above the shoulders. Except for
a notably skimpy loincloth the figure is naked (PL 32).
Compared with the Dunshaughlin representation the naturalism of the carv
ing is striking and indeed almost oriental in its emphasis on the substance of
the flesh. Particularly to be remarked are the softly rounded contours of the
body on which both navel and breasts are shown; the well-shaped arms, fine
wrists and plump hands on which finger joints and palmar lines are incised. Look
ing at the shapely legs with their defined knee-caps and neat ankles it seems
almost as though the carver had attempted, after the Late Antique fashion, to
show the weight of the body borne mainly on one leg rather than in the flat
footed stance usual in later representations.
The Conwal Pillar

During 1968 the old churchyard of Conwal was cleaned up when many cut
stones and fallen masonry were cleared of weeds and grass. Amongst these was
a small pillar with slightly rounded top on one side of which is a crudely
incised outline of a figure standing frontally (PL 30b). The stone stands about
60 cm. high by 36 cm. wide tapering to 30 cm., and is about 12 cm. in thickness.
I am indebted to Miss Colhoun who brought this stone to my notice and provided
photographs. Rudimentary arms are bent sharply upwards at the shoulders
but details of the hands are now well-nigh indistinguishable. The body is long
and narrow without anatomical features and may have been covered by a
straight shift or tunic. The man's legs are bent outwards at the knees and
consequently shown far apart although the feet, shown in profile almost touch
heel to heel. Shaped like an inverted pear the head displays a high rounded
forehead, large round eyes and long acutely pointed chin which indeed appears
so long that a stringy thin beard must have been intended. Above the crown of
the head are some faint vertical markings which may represent hair but seem
more like rays, possibly to show a nimbus or glory round the head.
214 HELEN M. ROE
These three carvings pose a number of problems: the question of their original
placings; the range of dating within which they may best be set; their purpose
and significance. Now whereas the Conwal stone can be looked on as a free
standing pillar or stele, the backs of the slabs from Dunshaughlin and Staholmock
are rough and unworked although the sides are squared and dressed. Thus it
would seem they were designed to be inset, at least partially, in masonry
perhaps, or mounted in some way or other. Furthermore due to their discovery
divorced from any structural context it cannot be known if these carvings
appeared as isolated or single subjects rather than as parts of some complex
composition such as a frieze or historiated scene.
It is obvious, nevertheless, that however these carvings were originally dis
played, they represent Irish versions of a type of figure widely known in Christian
art, alike in the West and near-East, and it would seem that both their dating
and interpretation need to be considered in relation to the many analogous
figures outside this country.
The Orans in Christian Art
Among the many borrowings from Late Classical Art made by early Christian
artists was one showing a person in prayer standing with hands extended and
raised skywards, the so-called Orans.1 Though customarily shown as a woman
or female personification in pre-Christian Imperial representational works, after
its takeover by the Christians, the orant figure might be male or female accord
ing as the subject required.
This adaptation from Pagan usage was, however, quite easily accepted by
Christians not only as one conforming with the lifting up of holy hands in
prayer, as advocated in the Scriptures2 but, as the Early Fathers were at pains
to point out,3 the position itself served as a remembrance of Christ's arms out
stretched upon the Cross (manibus in modum crucis expansis orantes). We
should note, moreover, that this form of devotion is well attested among the
1 For Theodor Klauser's derivation of the Christian orant figure from the depiction on
Imperial coinage of the virtue Pietas personified as a woman see his Studien zur
Entstehungsgeschichte der Christlichen Kunst in "lahrbuch fuer Antike und Christen
tum", (1959), 115-131 and ibid (1964), 71.
See also Friedrich Matz, Das Problem der Orans und ein Sarkophag in Cordoba in
"Madrider Mitteilung", 9, (1968), 300-10 for an interpretation of the orante on some
paleochristian sarcophagi as Pietas and not that of an individual. A derivation from
Pharaonic art rather than Late Classical for Coptic funerary orant figures is proposed
by Alfred Hermann, Die Beter-Stelen von Terenuthis in Aegypten in "lahrbuch fuer
Antike und Christentum", (1903), 110-28.
2 Ps. 133,2; 1 Timothy, 2,8.
3 e.g. Tertullian, De Orat., xi, "... nos vero non attolimus tantum, sed expandinus e
dominica passione modulatum."
Irish saints whose practice of prolonged prayer and meditation in the position
of the Crucified {Cros-figell) is commonly adduced as evidence of their extreme
self-mortification.
In both eastern and western early Christian art illustrations of persons in the
orant posture are comparatively numerous and appear over a span of some four
or five centuries. Of these the use of the orant figure to depict the Christian
soul in Paradise ? Anima beata in Pace ? appears to stem directly from pagan
Imperial art of the 3rd century, while in later times and notably on late Gallo
Roman sarcophagi (4th-5th c.) the orant figure commonly is chosen to depict
individual characters in the pictorial scheme devised to accompany a number of
early intercessory prayers and litanies. Here again it is interesting to note that
versions of these compositions were known and used in Ireland at least as early
as the 8th century.4
Usually known as the Help of God or Deliverance series many of the subjects
illustrated are taken from the Old Testament as demonstrating the power of
God to deliver the faithful from situations of mortal peril. Of these the subject
of Daniel in the Den of Lions seems to have exercised such an especial attraction 5
that again and again, be it as a scene in the Deliverance sequence or as an isolated
subject, we find the prophet, pictured as an Orans standing in medio leones,
his hands uplifted in trustful prayer. This predilection is very noticeable in work
of the barbarian West. There despite its often unskilled and almost unin
telligible rendering, the composition is to be recognised on stone monuments, terra
cotta plaques and on personal adornments like the bronze belt buckles of 6th
and 7th century date in Merovingian Gaul.6 On the last Daniel-Orans is usually
shown as a mature, bearded man dressed in Frankish costume,7 that is a knee
length, apron-like tunic with bordered edges (Fig. 1).
To understand and explain the widespread and long continued interest in the
depiction of Daniel's ordeal recourse must be had to the exegetical interpretation
of the subject as offered by the Early Fathers according to whom the deliverance
of the prophet from the powers of evil, as personified by the lions, was held to
signify the Resurrection of Christ, triumphant over Death and Hell.8 It may be
suggested also that from a combination of the concept of the Anima in Pace
4 e.g. Feilire Oengusso, ca. 797-808; see also Revue Celtique, v, 101 for prayer attributed
to Colman moccu Clusaigh {ob. 662) but in its present form thought to date about 800.
For association between early litanies and pictorial illustration see Karl Michel "Gebet
und Bild in fruechristlicher Zeit" in Studien ueber Christliche Denkmaeler, Hft. 1.
5 cf. Help of God series on Irish High Crosses with 15 instances of Daniel to only 6 of
Noah in the Ark and 5 of the Holy Children in the Furnace.
6 q.v. Holmquist, W., "Kunstprobleme der Merowingerzeit" for full discussion of the belt
buckles.
7 Salin, E., La Civilisation Merovingienne, iv,304, "... debout et vetu a la Franque."
8 cf. the placing of Daniel on one side of the cross-head as counterpoise to Crucifixion
on the other as at Clones, Kells Market Cross, etc thus expressing factually and
symbolically the basic dogma of Atonement and Resurrection.
216 HELEN M. ROE
Fig. 1 Detail from belt buckle from Chalon-sur-Saone after Salin, E.

Civilisation Merovingienne, IV, PL V. No. 1. On this both Daniel and
Habbakuk are shown as orantes clad in belted, apron-like tunics^ des
cribed as Frankish dress. 7th c.
Fig. 2 Detail from casket from Werden Abbey Church after Kidson, Dr. P.,
The Medieval World, PL 4. The front panel of this oak reliquary is inset
with three bone plaques on which are carved Christ Crucified flanked by
an angel and by Christ Orans as the Risen Saviour. All wear the apron
like Frankish garment. 8th c.
with that of Daniel as pre-figure of the Risen Christ, was evolved the illustration
of Our Lord Himself as an Orans. Though of very rare appearance the known
illustrations, which range from the 7th to the 9th century, are all very much alike.9
Each depicts the Orans as grave-looking, bearded and robed in a tunic of one
sort or another, his identification as Christ indicated by the wearing of a cruci
form nimbus (Fig. 1) or by a small cross set above His head.
Between the first illustrations of the Orans as the Christian Soul in Paradise
and what seems to be the latest appearance of persons in orant position (9th c.)
certain changes in iconographical details can be observed. Thus, and owing to
the growing influence of Syrian and Coptic artists to whom classical nakedness
was abhorrent, representations of Daniel as an ideal near-naked athlete in the
Late Antique mode, were superseded by his illustration as a mature bearded
Fig. 3 Detail from carved wooden door of St. Sabina, Rome after Atlas of the
Early Christian World, No. 476. The panel shows Christ Crucified
between the Thieves. All three are naked except for narrow loincloths.
5th c.
9 Three instances only cited by Salin (op. cit. sup., IV, 302-5). To these add a buckle
from La Balme (Geneva, Musee d'Art et de Histoire) with a cross formed as a 4-lobed
knot of interlacing above the head of the Orans.
From insular art may be cited Orans with small Maltese cross over the head at Llan
frynach (Nash-Williams, E. Christian Mons. of Wales PL 69, No. 8) and orant figure
with halo (?) and cross on breast at Overkirkhope (Allen & Anderson, E. Christian
Mons. of Scotland, Fig. 451)
218 HELEN M. ROE
person, always clothed be it in tunic, robe or, as we have seen, in the apron-like
Frankish dress.10
This distaste for nudity so characteristic of Near Eastern art is again manifest
in the altered depiction of Christ Crucified. In the earliest known versions of
the Crucifixion11 which are Western in origin, Christ is shown naked except
for a very narrow strip of cloth bound tightly around the hips (Fig. 3) but, with
the introduction in the middle of the 6th century of Syro-Palestinian formulas,
the use of a fully draped figure becomes almost obligatory. Familiarity with
both modes of representation is attested in Irish work as demonstrated by the
almost naked Christ on the slabs at Duvillaun Mor and Iniskea North, both
thought to be early 7th c. in date, whereas from the 8th c. onward the majority
of Crucifixions on the High Crosses show Christ fully clothed.12
Discussion
After this summary review cf the illustration in Christian art of the Orans,
be it to represent the Blessed Soul in Paradise, the faithful man delivered by the
power of God or the Risen Christ Himself and having noticed some of the
changes in representational modes we may turn to the fuller consideration of
the Irish instances of persons depicted in this ancient attitude of prayer.
It is in fact remarkable that before the recent finding of the stones from
Dunshaughlin, Staholmock and Conwal, the illustration in Irish art of an Orans
as a single subject13 seems not to have been known. By contrast several instances
of orant figures incorporated in the decoration of certain monuments can be
seen. Of these I would mention three in particular as affording by their decoration
evidence, however slight, for the dating of the appearance of the orant figure
in Irish art.14
10 On S. base of Dysert O'Dea High Cross the rendering, unique in Irish representations,
shows Daniel in true orant posture and clad in the skimpy exomis of early Christian
figures but flanked by back-turned lions inextricably entangled in serpent coils. Other
wise on the Crosses the orant attitude is modified by showing the arms extended
horizontally or bent at the elbows with the hands clasped before the breast.
For a summary of Daniel iconography see H. M. Roe in JRSAI. 75, Pt.l, 2-6.
11 e.g. British Museum, Ivory casket (N. Italian) ca. 400. Rome, St Sabina, Wooden Door,
ca. 422-30.
12 For a summary of Crucifixion iconography see H. M. Roe in JRSAI. 90, Pt. 11, 198-203.
13 The relief in Armagh Cathedral (q.v. JRSAI., 61, Pt. 11, 142-50, frontis.) is here omitted
as uncertain in origin and interpretation.
14 Though presumed to be of 8th c. date, the Church Island finial is too damaged and
obscure for useful consideration here. (q.v. PRIA, 59c (1958), M. J. O'Kelly, "Church
Island near Valencia, Co. Kerry.") The series of figures with hands upheld on the 13th
c. capital in Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon, seems decorative rather than representa
tional.
In the National Museum is a rather small cross-head with imperforate ring

of which the findplace is not known. (PI. 31,a). The piece is badly defective as
only one arm, the top of the shaft and centre of the crossing have survived. On
this the Orans, shown with massive, egg-shaped head, large bulbous eyes, flattened
nose and slit mouth, is very curiously depicted as rising out of (or merging down
ward into) a boldly carved knot of interlacing which fills the centre of the
crossing. The right hand of the figure appears never to have been finished.
Until recently in the old graveyard at Clonca, Co. Donegal an arm broken
from a cross was to be seen (see Miscellanea, postea, PI. 33). On one side of the
arm is depicted an Orans (PI. 33a). He stands frontally, his arms raised high and
his feet slightly apart but shown in profile, heel to heel. His head is large with
prominent eyeballs on which the pupils are indicated, the nose straight and blunt
at the tip and from his slightly open mouth a small pointed beard (?) appears
to depend. He wears a plain shirt-like tunic and high pull-on shoes or bootees.
Some form of circular brooch may have been shown near the figure's left breast.
The third instance of the orant figure as part of the decoration of a monument
is to be found on a slab at Gallen, Co. Offaly.15 On this stone, now broken and
irregular in outline, is a brilliantly conceived "model" of a free-standing High
Cross in relief. On the lower part of the head is the Orans, standing frontally
and seemingly quite unperturbed although his head is almost gripped by the
menacing jaws of a monstrous serpent which swings downward from a swirling
knot of vipers filling the centre of the crossing. Though on so small a scale?
the figure is only some 13 cm. high ? the Orans can be seen to be clad in very
similar fashion to that at Clonca, that is in a shirt-like tunic with slit opening
at the neck and pull-on high shoes covering the instep and rising to a point
at the back of the ankle (PI. 31, b).
All the details of this composition?the diagonal angular fret on the shaft,
the running interlacing on the ring and above all, the serpent knot combined with
human heads or masks?demonstrate the near kinship of this Gallen carving
with those great monuments of 8th century art, the crosses of Ahenny, Kilree,
Moone or the Dromiskin head, as well as with motifs copiously instanced on
metalwork, as for example, the Ekero crozier-head, the D-shaped reliquaries in
the Musee St Germain and with many analogous devices in manuscript illumina
tion of the period.
For the motifs on the back of the Clonca crossarm (PI. 33, b) the nearest Irish
parallels seem again to be found among the earlier crosses, notably on the South
Cross at Ahenny16 but the relatively common appearance of two-cord angular
interlacing and rounded zig-zag in Merovingian work of 7th and early 8th c.
date must not be overlooked.
So far as I know no analysis, either qualitative or quantitative, of decorative
15 JRSAI., 49 (1939) Pt. 1, 9: PI IV, Fig. 1.

16 q.v. H. M. Roe, The High Crosses of Western Ossory, 26, PI. X, 1 & 2.
220 HELEN M. ROE
elements common to Western Continental and insular art has been made. Never
theless and though this is not the place to attempt to disentangle the complex
links between Ireland and the Continent during the 7th and 8th centuries, even
a superficial examination of Irish and Continental art of the period can show
a number of comparable, if minor, decorative motifs. As well as the rather
heavy double or multicord angular interlacing, Merovingian work displays many
versions of star or "marigold" devices, space-fillers of rounded zig-zag and a
motif of a ring enclosing a quadrilobate knot of interlacing the loops of which
may often be extended beyond the encircling moulding. In these connections
the work not only of the Clonca fragment but much of the decoration of the
Carndonagh pillar, already mentioned in relation to the Dunshaughlin carving,
seem significant.
Now whereas correspondences like these need not necessarily imply more than
a general contemporaneity of ornamental devices, the distinctive rendering of
the Dunshaughlin figure appears so purely Frankish (cf. Figs. 1 & 2) as to suggest
an actual importation as its model. If this be so, the Irish work would seem
assignable within a 7th or, at latest, an 8th century context.
Evidence is lacking for any close dating of the Conwal carving. It may be
suggested, however, that rather than as a carving in its own right, the work
should be looked on as a transfer to stone of a drawing or perhaps a painted
panel of a type not uncommon in Coptic funerary art of the 6th century. Further
more it might be conjectured that so schematic a rendering as this now appears
might have been enhanced by colour thus to recreate something of the substance
and detail of the original.
There remains the problem of the near-nudity of the Staholmock representa
tion. For light on this we should look once more, I think, at the earliest depic
tions of the Crucifixion to which I have already alluded. In spite of the fact
that both known instances belong to the first quarter of the 5th century and are
thus earlier than recorded Christianity in Ireland, it does not seem improbable
that comparable examples reached the country by the latter part of the century
or, at least quite early in the following one. Moreover any substantially later date
for the introduction here of the naked-type figure would seem unlikely in
view of the widespread adoption from mid-6th century on of the clothed figure
in Western and Near-Eastern art alike. And while one must hesitate to ascribe
the Staholmock carving to so remote a date as the late 5th century, all its
features go to show its connection with, or derivation from, some distinguished
original of that time.
In conclusion then it would seem that in Ireland illustrations of the Orans,
whether isolated or incorporated in decorative work, are of relatively early
occurrence, possibly even so early as the 6th century but in the main in late 7th
and early 8th century association. Though it does not seem possible to recover
definite information as to their contemporary significance, there seems no grounds
for doubting that in Ireland, as elsewhere throughout the Christian world, these
simple and devotional forms served to show the faithful man or his immortal
soul in close communion with his Saviour, or it well may be, the Saviour Himself
in the supreme triumph of the Faith, the Resurrection.
Acknowledgements
I should like to express my appreciation of the very considerable help given to

me in the preparation of this paper. In particular I must thank Rev. Canon E. L.
Ledwich, Rector of Dunshaughlin for permission to publish the carving from that
site; Miss N. O'Sullivan and Miss M. Calhoun for information, photographs and
rubbings of Staholmock and Conwal carvings; Miss M. Dunleavy and Mr. P.
Healy for information and photographs of the Clonca fragment; Dr. Joseph
Raftery and Mr. Barry Raftery for photographs and drawings; the National
Museum of Ireland for facilities to study material in the National Collections
as well as for photographs of the material.

Orans in Irish Christian Art

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Orans in Irish Christian Art

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Orans in Irish Christian Art

Author(s): Helen M. Roe

THE ORANS IN IRISH CHRISTIAN ART

The Dunshaughlin Slab

to determine if the feet were supported on a suppedaneum or other form of

The Staholmock Slab

The Conwal Pillar

The Orans in Christian Art

Fig. 1 Detail from belt buckle from Chalon-sur-Saone after Salin, E.

In the National Museum is a rather small cross-head with imperforate ring

15 JRSAI., 49 (1939) Pt. 1, 9: PI IV, Fig. 1.

I should like to express my appreciation of the very considerable help given to

You might also like