Recreating the Tarbat Wreath Fragment: Pictish Stonecarvers as Masters of Transmutation

Dr Cynthia Thickpenny, University of Glasgow & David McGovern Monikie Rock Art

This lecture is being presented to a live audience in Fortrose Free Church, Fortrose, and will also be made available over Zoom.

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In this lecture, art historian Cynthia Thickpenny and stone carver David McGovern will unveil the outcome of their joint project: a reconstruction of a carved, wreath-shaped sandstone fragment from Portmahomack, on the Tarbat peninsula in Scotland.

The original carving is one of the most complex artworks from Scotland’s early medieval period and an art-historical treasure in its own right. The fragment, once belonging to a monumental stone slab carved with a Christian cross, was made by a Pictish sculptor at the early monastic site at Portmahomack around the late 8th century AD.

It contains a type of decoration largely unique to Britian and Ireland in this period and of which the Picts were particular masters: the transmutation of patterns. In three dimensions around the face of the stone wreath, wildly different and complicated geometric patterns transmute, or physically transform, into one another in a completely continuous manner.

In their collaborative research as part of Thickpenny’s Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship, Thickpenny and McGovern recovered the geometric patterns as accurately as possible, as well as the fascinating but difficult strategies that the Pictish carver used to make transmutation. This was done through close study of the original fragment’s damaged surface and McGovern’s process of carving the reconstruction.

In this lecture, they will walk the audience through their process of reassessing and recreating this remarkable historical sculpture. Attendees will get a firsthand look at the reconstructed stone in person, and a fascinating glimpse into the eye-boggling, astounding creativity of the Pictish people of Easter Ross in the Early Middle Ages.

David McGovern FSAScot, Heritage Stonecarver and Monumental Mason.
David is a traditional stone-carver working mostly in sandstone and occasionally in bronze. His main interest is the early medieval Pictish stone work of the North East of Scotland and the late medieval work of the west Highlands and Islands. His monumental work can be found at Brechin, Arbroath, Forteviot, Halkirk, Abernethy and the Isle of Skye. His smaller work can be found in museums at Burghead and Dundee, and in private collections all over the world. The most recent full-scale recreation was the Skinnet Cross at Halkirk. David is Vice-President of The Pictish Arts Society.

THIS EVENT IS MADE POSSIBLE BY CYNTHIA’S LEVERHULME EARLY CAREER FELLOWSHIP, FUNDED BY THE LEVERHULME TRUST.

Access requirements
This event is being provided at Fortrose Free Church, 5 Church Street, Fortrose, IV10 8TE. It is wheelchair accessible; Parking is available adjacent to the building