Rinnegan Crucifixion Plaque

The Rinnegan Crucifixion Plaque (also known as the Athlone or St. John Crucifixion Plaque) is a late 7th or early 8th-century Irish gilt-bronze crucifixion plaque found in the 19th-century in the churchyard of St. John's on the head of Lough Ree near Rinnegan, County Roscommon.^[3] It is one of the earliest known representations of the crucifixion in Irish art, and outside of illuminated manuscripts, is a rare example of representation in 8th-century Irish art.^[4]

The Rinnegan Plaque is the earliest of the eight such early medieval Irish plaques to have survived, and at 21 cm (8.3 in) x 12.5 cm (4.9 in) is the largest example,^[1] and widely considered by archaeologists to be the most accomplished.^[5] It's dating to the late 7th or early 8th centuries is based on its curvilinear designs, including spirals and interlace.^[6] While the precise function of these plaques is unknown, the fact that they contain multiple rivet or nail holes indicates that they were likely intended to be attached to larger ecclesiastical objects such as processional crosses, book shrines or altarpieces.^[7][8]

The plaque was hidden or buried at some point to protect it from plunder by Vikings or later Normans. While the details of its rediscovery in the early 19th-century are unknown, iron and salt deposits in the hollows of its reverse indicate that it was buried. The plaque is in the permanent collection of the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) in Dublin.^[5]

Christ wears a long, sleeved tunic.^[9] He has a mask-like face reminiscent of earlier La Tène art^[10] and does not wear a beard. Although his eyes are closed,^[9] he appears to be alive, given that he is standing on the centre of the cross rather than hanging from it.^[11] His feet point inwards and downwards, and the rivet holes indicate that he is nailed to a cross.^[4][12] The thin border that outlines his head is assumed to be a halo. His chest, arms and long tunic are heavily decorated by elaborate early Celtic spiral patterns.^[13]

The spirals on his chest resemble similar patterns on the relief on the stone-carved Crucifixion found on the Calf of Man.^[14]

The cross is barely visible behind Christ's body.^[1][15] As with most contemporary Irish depictions of the crucifixion, the cross conforms to the Latin form, but has curves rather than rigid right angles at the juncture of the arms and shaft.^[9]

As with all of the Crucifixion Plaques, the Roman soldiers Stephaton, the lance-bearer offering vinegar to Christ, and the lance-bearer Longinus (the lance-bearer), often stand on either side of Christ's feet.^[10] The band above Christ's head contains ribbon interlace, and his breastplate is decorated with interlocking c-shaped scrolls and spirals.^[15] Longinus is positioned to the lower left quadrant, trusting a into Christ's chest, although the wound is not visible.^[16]

Two attendant angels with triple wings (on either side and below as if a tail) hover above him

The figures were achieved by hammering the bronze from behind, while the decorative elements were added via engraving and repoussé.^[15]

The precise function of the Irish Crucifixion plaques is unknown.^[17] The reverse side of the Rinnegan plaque is unadorned, but has rivets and nail holes along the edges, indicating that it was intended to be attached to a larger object, which may have been from metal or wood. Thus most art historians conclude that it had a secondary function; likely such plaques adorned book covers, stone altar frontals or wooden crosses.^[18][19] The art historian Peter Harbison, who in 1980 first described the extant crucifixion plaques as a group,^[20] favors pax-plates, noting that many show wear around Christ's head, indicating that they may have been passed around to be kissed during masses.^[21][22]

Harbison suggests that a single workshop or region produced the plaques, a theory refuted in 2014 by Griffin Murray who points out both their geographical dispersion and provenance (although all seem to have been produced in Southern Ulster)^[23] and differences when analysed under X-ray fluorescence.^[24]

The ecclesiastical site at St. John's dates back to antiquity, and the plaque is believed to have been discovered buried near an iron and bronze handbell.^[15][25] Nothing is known of the circumstances around its commission or production. It is usually dated to the early 8th-century based on the interlocking peltae and spiral designs on Christ's breastplate and on the band above his head.^[1] The historian Frank Mitchell suggests that the absence of typical insular zoomorphic animal designs suggests that it was created in the later 7th-century.^[10]

The design of the plaque has been compared to very similar crucifixion folio (f.38v) of the 9th-century Southampton Psalter and to an 11th or 12th-century open-work brass crucifixion plaque in the British Museum.^[26][27]

The earliest surviving printed reference to the Rinnegan Crucifixion Plaque is in John Stuart's 1867 "Sculptured Stones of Scotland, Volume II", where the antiquarian Margaret Stokes is recounted as having told her fellow antiquarian George Petrie that the plaque was "from Clonmacnoise —the central seat of art in Ireland— and brought to the Academy from Athlone", and that Petrie believed it to be "1,000 years old."^[28] This led to some confusion as to its origin, with some antiquarians believing it had been rediscovered at Clonmacnoise and others assuming it had been made in Clonmacnois but had a find spot in Athlone, County Westmeath, leading to it often being known as the "Athlone Crucifixion Plaque".^[28]

However, according to a November 1861 handwritten record found during the late 20th-century in the Royal Irish Academy's "Book of Inventory", the Rinnegan Plaque is described as having been found "at St. John's, near Athlone", and was acquired on 19 July of that year from "Wm. Sproule, for £8".^[28] Although there is little other evidence to associate the plaque with St. John's, the plaque is today usually so-called as St. John's burial ground is located just outside the townland of Rinnagan, County Roscommon.^[28]

While the details of its rediscovery are unknown, the iron salt deposits in the hollows of its reverse indicate that it had been buried in soil for centuries.^[28]

The plaque has suffered considerable damage and would have been far more decorative when first produced.^[29] The shine on the copper is somewhat blunted, while much of the gilt has been lost, as is most of Christ's right arm.^[4] The tunic was originally lined with interlace and fretwork, which is now lost.^[10]

• Kelly, Dorothy. "Crucifivion Plaques". Irish Arts Review Yearbook, 1990