Early Medieval depictions - more ancient images of harp players from Scotland and Ireland.

Crail cross slab

click to enlarge

Crail, East Fife, Scotland.

Inside the door of Crail church is a large Pictish cross-slab. It has a central high cross, and figures and animals filling the panels each side of the cross shaft.

On the right side is a figure sitting in a high-backed char, holding an object in front of them.

The slab used to be set in the floor so people walked over it and so the carving is very worn away.

In the past, scholars have suggested the figure may be the Virgin & child, or King David playing the harp.

I can see a figure-8 shaped object with a projection at the bottom, and I wonder if it is an early and rare example of a fiddle. Or, even more speculatively, and thinking of the depictions at Aberlemno & Gask, could it be an arched harp, held wth the bass strings closest to the player?

Closeup 3D anaglyph of the possible musical instrument

3D anaglyph image. Red/cyan goggles required for viewing.

Read more at Senchus - Crail Pictish Cross Slab

Early Medieval depictions - more ancient images of harp players from Scotland and Ireland.