George Bain Drawing - Rossie Priory Stone.

George Bain Drawing - Rossie Priory Stone.

Class II symbol stone.

One of the most impressive Early Christian monuments of south-east Perth, this cross-slab is in the former church of Rossie, which is now the mausoleum of the Kinnaird family. Decorated in relief on both faces, it measures 1.67m in height, 1.16m in width at the base and up to 0.3m in thickness. The front is decorated with a cross in high relief, lacking the left arm; the cross is ringed and has rounded hollow armpits and a central roundel of interlace. The top arm and shaft are decorated with panels of interlace, while the surviving arm bears key pattern. The panels on either side of the head contain, on the left, a beast with a human head and curling tail; on the other side, a beaked figure holding an axe with both hands attacks a claw-footed bird. On the left side of the shaft are carved a beast with its tail curled over its back; a naked man under attack from a beast and a fish-tailed monster; and a pair of confronted beasts, each swallowing a bird. On the right-hand side of the shaft there is a beast swallowing a serpent; below this there is an animal with a bovine head and large eyes. At the bottom of the slab there is a pair of monsters with human heads, the fins of a fish and beast-headed tails, bodies intertwined, facing in opposite directions, one astride the other; their beards and flowing hair are very clearly shown. On the back of the slab, a second cross, set within an interlaced border, is the dominant feature. There is an animal head just below the left arm of the cross where the interlace begins, with the pattern ending in a fish-like tail below the right arm. The almost equal-armed cross has rounded hollow armpits and a central roundel of key pattern and interlace decoration in the arms, which merges into that of the border. The short shaft and its stepped base are outlined by beading and contain figural decoration: three horsemen ranged vertically form a hunting scene with two further horsemen and a pair of hunting dogs on the right-hand side of the shaft. In the spaces above the side-arms of the cross are carved an angel and a figure holding a pair of birds by the necks. Finally, on the left-hand side of the shaft and pedestal there are a crescent and V-rod, a 'Pictish beast', and a kneeling animal looking back at the head which forms the termination of its tail.

Drawing by George Bain.