DUPLN/1

Forsyth/1996, 247--249: `On each face the shaft is organized into three panels of varying proportions each panel is outlined with a plain narrow moulding. The four top panels are divided from the four middle panels by a horizontal band of geometric ornament...Three squarish panels on the front are roughly equal in size, the lowest being slightly larger, and the highest slightly smaller than the middle. The bottom panel contains an eclectic jumble -- the paschal lamb and flag, David rending the jaws of a bear, and two other animals, one apparently carrying a pole or flag. The middle panel consists of a central ring containing a circular interlace knot...surrounded by four pairs of birds, legs and beaks crossed and interlaced...The top panel on the reverse of the shaft, which contains a single mounted warrior, seems to parallel the text panel, and it is tempting to imagine it contains a representation of the king mentioned in the inscription. In the elongated middle panel are four foot-soldiers wearing tunics and head-gear, armed with round shield and spears. A thin border of key pattern divides this panel from the possible remains of a hunt scene with pouncing dog below. Two foot-soldiers, similar but more embellished than those on the back, occupy the middle panel of the south side. Above them is a pair of opposing beasts on hind legs, fore-legs intertwined sitting on their haunches facing each other with their paws crossed over on each other's necks, and below them a simple triquetra knot. On the north side the top panel is taken up with a beast biting its own tail which is interlaced beneath its body. The bottom has an interlace knot of six-cord plait with a single break in the middle, and in the middle is a remarkably well-preserved figure, possibly David, seated in an ornate chair, singing and playing a large harp. The cross-head is separated from the shaft by a thick border around all four faces above which there is a marked step in the silhouette. The edges of the head are surrounded by a roll-moulding (single spiral curves at each of the points of the cusped hollows between the arms). The four `arms'...are of equal size but the top panel has been elongated by the addition of a further panel...On each face the cross-head forms a single field of ornament. On the back are two stems of vine-scroll foliage, arranged in simple spirals and interlace, on the front interlace knots in a cruciform pattern around the central boss, and beyond that on each arm, spirals. In the centre of the cross on both faces there is a large circular boss surrounded by a sort of ribbed border. Each side has two panels above the arm, a panel on the end of the arm, one under the arm and one in the section above the top of the shaft. These are filled with interlace and square key patterns, and with single beasts'.