Shapes of Early Sculptured Crosses of Ireland

Abstract

This paper proposes the hypothesis that the shapes of early sculptured crosses of Ireland were devised by constructive geometry employing concepts and procedures like those used to devise the shapes of full-page illuminations in the early Insular Gospel manuscripts. Both kinds of design exhibit the same aesthetic rules: parsimony of ratios and commodulation of measures. That is to say, relations among the principal dimensions are linked by one or two elementary ratios inherent in simple geometrical figures, the circle and the cross. The hypothesis is developed by showing that stone cross shapes, similar to cross-page designs, can be replicated time and again by straightforward, catenulate construction with compass and straight-edge. There is no attempt to identify the source of the designs, or their possible symbolism, or their developmental sequence, for reasons that will be given. The focus, rather, is on the nature of the individual shapes--something never before articulated--and on how they can all be alike without any two being the same.