Heimdall cross slab (Manx Cross 127) casts
Date made: c.1890-1910
Maker: Kermode, Philip Moore Callow
Description: In the 1800s the making of life-size replica casts of stone sculptures became very popular, allowing academic study and public appreciation without having to travel to see the originals. The first curator of the Manx Museum, Philip Moore Callow Kermode gathered existing casts, and from 1886 onwards had others made, to aid his study of Manx medieval sculpture, eventually publishing Manx Crosses in 1907. From then onwards the Manx Museum funded the creation of additional casts whenever new crosses were found (now we scan them with lasers!). After Kermode’s death in 1932 and for the next twenty years, the casts found a new interpretive purpose as they, and his life-size drawings of the crosses, formed the backbone of displays in what have since become the Prehistory and Viking Galleries. This early cast is very valuable because it preserves more of the runic inscription than survives today; one whole line was unfortunately broken off the original stone and lost some time before 1887.
Measurements: overall: 77 cm x 42 cm x 6 cm
Materials: fibre: vegetable, jute, inorganic: gypsum plaster, paint: other
Object name: cast
Collection: Archaeology Collection
ID number: 2019-0020/127
Subject tags : #MM100BEAUTIFULTHINGS