The Tynan Crucifixion Plaque is a small

early medieval The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Middle Ages of Europ ...

sculpture found in 1844 near

Tynan Tynan ()PlaceNamesNI - Tynan
is a village, townland (of 375 acres) an ...

County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...

, Northern Ireland. It is dated to c. 1100 and made from

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

.Johnson (1998), p. 101 As with the seven other extant Irish Early medieval Crucifixion plaques, it shows the

Crucifixion of Jesus The crucifixion of Jesus was the death of Jesus by being crucifixion, nailed to a cross.The instrument of Jesus' crucifixion, instrument of crucifixion is taken to be an upright wooden beam to which was added a transverse wooden beam, thus f ...

high relief High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...

, with two attendant angels hovering above his arms to his immediate left and right. Below them are representations of the Roman soldiers

Stephaton Stephaton, or Steven, is the name given in medieval Christian traditions to the Roman soldier or bystander, unnamed in the Bible, who offered Jesus a sponge soaked in vinegar wine at the Crucifixion. In later depictions of the Crucifixion, Steph ...

(the sponge-bearer) and

Longinus Longinus (Greek: Λογγίνος) is the name of the Roman soldier who pierced the side of Jesus with a lance, who in apostolic and some modern Christian traditions is described as a convert to Christianity. His name first appeared in the apoc ...

(the lance-bearer) driving spears into Christ's chest. It is very similar in size and form to the Anketell Crucifixion Plaque, which may have been produced by the same workshop.Murray (2014), p. 300 The four puncture holes on its reverse indicate that it was built as an attachment to a larger object, perhaps an

altar cross An altar crucifix or altar cross is a cross placed upon an altar, and is often the principal ornament of the altar. History Early Christians were wary of publicly exposing the cross or crucifix for fear of subjecting it to the insults of paga ...

or as the front piece for an

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

. Its modern provenance is unknown, but it was incorrectly described as the

Dungannon Dungannon (, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 16,282 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2021 Census. The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Counci ...

plaque in the 18th century. Today it is in the collection of the

National Museum of Ireland The National Museum of Ireland () is Ireland's leading museum institution, with a strong emphasis on national and some international archaeology, Irish history, Irish art, culture, and natural history. It has three branches in Dublin, the arch ...

(NMI) in Dublin.

Origion

Archaeologists assume that contemporary Irish Early Medieval objects were buried to avoid plunder by the Vikings or Norman invaders. There is no record of the Tynan plaque's rediscovery, but it is thought to have happened in the mid-19th century, at Marrassit or College Hall

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

, nearby to the parish and village of

Tynan Tynan ()PlaceNamesNI - Tynan
is a village, townland (of 375 acres) an ...

.Hamlin; Haworth (1982), p. 112 Its dating to c. 1100, that is pre-the pre-Norman, is based on its figure's similarity to those on contemporary

high crosses A high cross or standing cross (, , ) is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval tradition in Ireland and Britain of raising large sculpted stone crosses, usually outdoors. Th ...

, and a 12th-century figure of Christ on a doorway on a church site in

Maghera Maghera ( ; ) is a small town at the foot of the Glenshane Pass in Northern Ireland. Its population was 4,235 in the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. Formerly in the Barony (Ireland), barony of Loughinsholin within the historic County ...

County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...

.Hamlin; Haworth (1982), p. 113 The Tynan Plaque is thought to have originated from the same workshop that produced the c. 1110 Anketell Crucifixion Plaque, now in the

(NMI), Dublin. The workshop may have been active in

Armagh Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...

town, just c. 7 miles east of Tynan.

Description

As with the seven other extant early medieval Crucifixion plaques, the Tynan figures are in

, with a central panel of the crucified Jesus surrounded by four smaller panels showing

and

(the lance and sponge bearers) in the lower quadrants, and two hovering attendant angels above Christ's arms. The Tynan plaque is one of the smaller and later examples of the type. In contrast to the earlier examples, Christ's hands are not nailed to the cross, and usually, the angles on the lower half have bird-like beaks.McGill (1992), p. 59 His arms are elongated compared to the rest of his body.Hamlin; Haworth (1982), p. 115 Christ is naked except for a short and tight fitting

loincloth A loincloth is a one-piece garment, either wrapped around itself or kept in place by a belt. It covers the genitals and sometimes the buttocks. Loincloths which are held up by belts or strings are specifically known as breechcloth or breechclo ...

Murray (2014), p. 297 whose lines seem to intertwine into the forms of the saints below, while Stephaton and Longinus' hair and garments merge into the plaque's border. Like those on the Clonmacnoise plaque, the faces have been worn down over the centuries.Harbison (2000), p. 15Murray (2014), p. 290 Another theory is that the plaques were intended as decoration for book covers, similar to the ivory crucifixion plaques on

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty ( ; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid c ...

bindings.Henry (1967), pp. 112–113 Griffin argues that they were intended to be attached to large wood and metal altar crosses, such as the Tully Lough Cross, which contains very similar figures.

References

Notes

Sources

* Hamlin, Ann; Hawort, R.G. "A Crucifixion Plaque Reprovenance". ''Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland'', volume 112, 1982. * Harbison, Peter. ''The Crucifixion in Irish Art''. Columba Press, 2000. * Harbison, Peter. "A lost crucifixion plaque of Clonmacnoise type found in County Mayo". ̄''Irish Midland Studies: Essays in Commemoration of N.W. English''. Athlone, 1980. * Henry, Françoise. ''Irish Art During the Viking Invasions, 800-1020 AD''. Methuen books, 1967. * Hamlin, Ann; Haworth, R. G. "A Crucifixion Plaque Reprovenanced". ''The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland'', volume 112, 1982. * Henry, Françoise; Marsh-Micheli, G.L. ''A Century of Irish Illumination (1070-1170)''. ''Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature'', volume 62, 1961–1963. * Johnson, Ruth. "Irish Crucifixion Plaques: Viking Age or Romanesque?". ''The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland'', volume 128, 1998. * McGill, Lochlann. ''In Conall's Footsteps''. Brandon, 1992. * Mitchell, G. Frank. "Foreign Influences and the Beginnings of Christian Art". In:
Treasures of early Irish art, 1500 B.C. to 1500 A.D: From the collections of the National Museum of Ireland, Royal Irish Academy, Trinity College Dublin
'. NY:

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, 1977. * Moss, Rachel. ''Medieval c. 400—c. 1600: Art and Architecture of Ireland''. London: Yale University Press, 2014. * 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''. University of Notre Dame: Thomas F.X. Noble, 2014

Origion

Description

References

Notes

Sources

Further reading