WHYTE'S THE ECLECTIC COLLECTOR SATURDAY & SUNDAY 25 & 26 July 2020

16 History 20 1784 Penal Cross. Carved fruitwood with figure of Christ, on short armed cross inscribed with INRI chalice, arrow, ladder, cockerel and cooking pot on front and IHS and 1784 on reverse. Found in an old house in Straffan, Co. Kildare; Private collection Condition: Four inch split visible on reverse, and 1 inch chip also on back, otherwise very good. Penal crosses represented devotional artefacts. Their name derives from the fact that they were somewhat contemporaneous with the Penal Laws. The Penal Laws created a wave of economic, social and religious hardship across Ireland. The penal cross signified a tangible, portable relic of worship for Catholics whose religion was under great threat. In his study, A.T. Lucas suggests a range of dates from the eighteenth to early nineteenth century for penal crosses. It is thought that they have a strong association with the pilgrimage site at Lough Derg, County Donegal where they were made and sold to pilgrims visiting the site and subsequently kept as relics. Lucas states that: “The manufacture of crucifixes of an undoubted “penal” type in the locality for sale to the pilgrims of the mid-nineteenth century, suggests the possibility that the whole genus of these objects may be associated with the Lough Derg pilgrimage” (Lucas, 1954, p. 168). Penal crosses were made of a single piece of wood and of simple cruciform shape with short arms and a figure of Christ carved in high relief at the centre. Estimate €1500-€2000 (approx £1,360-£1,820) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot 20