Notebook Page 72.
I was struck by this Anglian period gravestone in the crypt of York cathedral. The roughly shaped stone was carved about 900 AD. It is about 1.5 meters tall, and has a bas-relief of a man in a striped or quilted coat with a belt and wristbands or bracelets. His hands, which have extremely large thumbs, are placed on the head of two watchful animals seated at each side of him. Their paws (hands?) reach up to him (or are held up in prayer?). The staring eyes and low forehead are as shown here.
The area immediately around the Cathedral had been a Roman garrison town, so, is this a portrait, a Christian image, a Celtic image, or a an image brought by a legionnaire from the other end of the Roman world?