Wall monument - effigial

The National Monuments Service's description

In the N wall of the chancel of the Cistercian church at Corcomroe (CL003-029002-) over King Conor’s effigial tomb (CL003-029007-) is a flat slab carved in low relief with the figure of a bishop placed under an architectural canopy. The effigy was discovered shortly before 1890. Hunt (1974, vol. 1, 119; vol. 2, 74) describes the effigy as follows: ‘The bishop is vested in alb and chasuble, with a mitre of peculiar form upon his head; the left hand holds a crozier, his right is raised in blessing. The treatment of the figure and details is most unusual. The chasuble rigidly confining the upper arms has a neck with an opening in the front, bordered with what is presumably the apparel of the amice. No stole is visible. The low mitre terminates in a trefoil ornament and appears to be of a particularly Irish form confined to the West and to districts not under English control. It may be compared to that shown on the E face of the Doorty cross at Kilfenora, Co. Clare (CL016-015006-) and on a much later slab from Faughart, Co. Louth, now in the National Museum. The out-turned crozier has a spherical knop and simple volute of romanesque type. The upper part of the slab is more deeply cut than the bottom, which appears to be unfinished, and the feet and legs, shown in profile, give the effect of having been hurriedly sketched in, preparatory to carving. The canopy is supported by side columns and a great part of the projection has been destroyed. Both in its form and in the decoration of its cusps with large stalked berries, it shows its relation to the two effigies in Ardfert Cathedral, Co. Kerry. The artist has obviously been inspired by a linear technique. The careful, hard and almost metallic treatment of the hands and head falls off into the flat though swelling roundnesses of the shoulders and chasuble, and the tradition of linear surface decoration is again shown in the artist’s need to occupy the whole available space, achieved by widening the vestment to balance the projection of the arms. The date of the effigy is uncertain, but it is probably a 13th-century work.’

The following images are attached:

CL003-029009-_01.jpg Close-up of the head of the slab.
CL003-029009-_02.jpg Full view of the slab.

Compiled by: Mary Tunney

Date of upload: 21 April 2015

This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 1/1986).

References

Hunt, J. 1974 Irish medieval figure sculpture 1200-1600, 2 vols. Dublin. Irish University Press.