Dunshaughlin / Domhnach Seachnaill / Dún Seachlainn

Described and illustrated in Roe (1968: 8, [57]-59 and pl. XXIII): octagonal mounted batismal font; the basin has carving on five of its panels, and Roe (ibid.) comments that "there is so great a disparity between the very high relief of the human head on one of the panels and the shallow false relief technique of the remaining four carvings, that it is to be wondered if the work may not be of two periods: that is that originally the only ornament on the font was the head [...] whereas the others, the work of someone less skilled alike in technique and representational competence, were added at a later date". Roe (ibid.) describes the panels of the basin and includes in brackets the identification by Grace O'Mahony [cf. ref. in Author Notes below]: 1)human head, male [human or angle head]; 2)plain; 3)animal, perhaps an ox? [a lion passant]; 4-5)plain; 6)quadruped on the right, and two facing birds occupying the centre and left of the panel [pelican in piety with an animal at either side]; 7)pointed shield, blank [shield with a scroll above]; 8)bullock-like animal with a bundle beneath it, perhaps a child? or fox? -- a representation of a fable? [an ox with raised lines beneath its feet]. Roe (ibid.) adds that "though it is possible to conjecture that the basic plan of ornamentation on this vessel was to show the Four Evangelists by means of their symbols, [...] the actual presentation is so uncoventional that it appears unwise to press such an interpretation further." Pike (1989: 46-47) -much after Roe- mentions a lion, a wolf and a pelican and comments that the decoration might be a representation of the Symbols of the Evangelists: Man/angel, ox, lion, eagle, supplemented by the donor's coat of arms. Roe (ibid.) makes an interesting reference to the Journal of Isaac Butler which relates that in or about 1740 Butler noted "a handsome canopy like that of a pulpit, carved and painted", and speculates whether Butler's canopy was a cover much in the style of the several types and dates that have survived on English fonts. Noted and illustrated in the TRIARC - Edwin Rae Collection (Digital Image Collection)