The Murthly Panel
Ordnance Survey Map Reference not applicable
The panel face on
The panel from the right
The National Museum of Scotland is in Chambers Street, Edinburgh. Ask at the door to be pointed towards the Pictish Stones Collection, which is downstairs. The museum attendants are extremely helpful, and you may take photographs of the stones provided you are not using a tripod - a very enlightened attitude. I heartily recommend a visit here, the whole museum is worth a couple of days browsing.
Apparently found on the left bank of Gellyburn River close to Murthly, having been cast up by a plough, it measures 114cm long.
Elizabeth Sutherland describes it thus: 'An extraordinary panel reading left to right shows two men, one in a bird mask and the other in a dog mask fighting each other with swords and bossed shields. A pair of seahorses face each other with crossed forelegs while a naked man looks over his shoulder at a fanged bear-like beast of prey (maybe a manticora) which leaps towards him over a reptile resembling a crocodile with bug-eyes and a fish-tail.'
Not sure who took too many mushrooms here, the sculptor or the describer... However, it remains a fascinating stone.