(artist(s) unknown, located in Tipperary county, Ireland) (8th century). South Cross [stone]. Tiperrary county, Ireland.

The South Cross of Ahenny represents a form of Irish expression known as high cross, one of countless mini-monumental Christian crosses found throughout the countryside. In its time, it would have carried beautifully ornate decorative patterning and texturing similar to the abstract designs found on the Book of Kells Chi Rho Iota page. Woven throughout the designs would be small, circular cells expressing specific events, no doubt based on the Bible or Gospels. Their circular forms, repeated by the predictable arrangement of bosses, provide a strong contrast to the perpendicular rigidity that defines most of the body of this form, qualifying it as a work of design. 

Though it carries the massive impression of a menhir, the Ahenney South Cross has a canvas-like appearance in that its intended angle of view is front-on. In this regard, depending on lighting conditions (as with all work of sculpture), an interesting interplay of graduated and sharp edges reveal themselves, one providing beauty, the other a grounding framework for the composition. It is a near-reflection along both the vertical and horizontal axes.

As with the guardian Lamassu of the ancient palace of Assurnasipal II, formal development is diffuse and applied with consistent measure throughout the work. With no specific local area to dominate interest, the conceptual idea of the Ahenny Cross becomes more accessible, eternal life in paradise for those who believe in this case. Note, this starkly contrasts against the Lamassu, which instead of expressing selfless devotion, is a monument to the ego of an autocratic ruler.

A lesson of this work is the influence metallurgy had on artistic expression of early Middle Age British and Scandinavian expression. The devotional reliquaries contained in the churches and cathedrals of the time were richly decorated and bejeweled metallic boxes developed in the form of a substantial cross. The elaborate, weathered decoration, jewel-like bosses and latent reference to radiant light implied through the halo it is believed is inspired by these devotional works of expression.