What does this stained glass say?
March 23, 2011 4:59 AM Subscribe
Odd 'writing' on a stained glass panel - can you work out what, if anything, it says?
Asking this partly on behalf of my non-Mefite boyfriend, who's working with the stained glass in question. Close-up of the writing here; picture of the whole panel is here. (Close-up is of a section near the top, the map on the wall behind the seated teacher.)
More information:
- The glass is from the 19th century, around the 1870s, and was made in Glasgow.
- It's not religious art, and it's not in a church; it's part of a collection depicting local work and industry.
- The panel shows a schoolteacher talking to some children, with a map of what looks like England and Wales on the wall behind him. The writing is on the map itself, right above the compass.
- It's possible-to-likely that the panel's depicting a specific local teacher in his classroom, rather than a generic figure (other panels in the collection show identifiable people in identifiable places).
We're leaning towards the idea that it's just doodles meant to look like writing from a distance, but that seems odd given the rest of the artist's work in the same collection. All the panels are really detailed, and a few of them contain writing much smaller than this, even though people looking at the glass in place wouldn't have been able to read it without binoculars. He doesn't skimp on detail anywhere else.
Any ideas?
Asking this partly on behalf of my non-Mefite boyfriend, who's working with the stained glass in question. Close-up of the writing here; picture of the whole panel is here. (Close-up is of a section near the top, the map on the wall behind the seated teacher.)
More information:
- The glass is from the 19th century, around the 1870s, and was made in Glasgow.
- It's not religious art, and it's not in a church; it's part of a collection depicting local work and industry.
- The panel shows a schoolteacher talking to some children, with a map of what looks like England and Wales on the wall behind him. The writing is on the map itself, right above the compass.
- It's possible-to-likely that the panel's depicting a specific local teacher in his classroom, rather than a generic figure (other panels in the collection show identifiable people in identifiable places).
We're leaning towards the idea that it's just doodles meant to look like writing from a distance, but that seems odd given the rest of the artist's work in the same collection. All the panels are really detailed, and a few of them contain writing much smaller than this, even though people looking at the glass in place wouldn't have been able to read it without binoculars. He doesn't skimp on detail anywhere else.
Any ideas?
You could do worse, it seems, than to email this guy.
posted by tumid dahlia at 5:41 AM on March 23, 2011
posted by tumid dahlia at 5:41 AM on March 23, 2011
Probably a Gaelic script and most likely the artist's name in Gaelic.
posted by JJ86 at 5:57 AM on March 23, 2011
posted by JJ86 at 5:57 AM on March 23, 2011
Or what JJ86 said. Was looking around for stuff to do with compass roses, even tried a bunch of "-orior"s, old maps, but I am a mere Googler, the artist's name seems much more satisfactory.
posted by tumid dahlia at 6:06 AM on March 23, 2011
posted by tumid dahlia at 6:06 AM on March 23, 2011
Response by poster: I don't think it's the artist's name in Gaelic - the lettering doesn't look recognisably Gaelic to me (or recognisably like the artist's name), and the artist wasn't a Gaelic speaker to my knowledge. Worth checking that with someone who reads Gaelic, though.
tumid dahlia, thanks for the book link! I think we do have contact details for him, so worth looking those out.
posted by Catseye at 6:40 AM on March 23, 2011
tumid dahlia, thanks for the book link! I think we do have contact details for him, so worth looking those out.
posted by Catseye at 6:40 AM on March 23, 2011
Something and then the word orior maybe - which would be Latin to be born or to rise. But the first characters are more confusing - if it is Latin I would guess Pie, so Pie orior would translate as something like "faithfully rise". But it's a tough puzzle, and think this is the best guess I can manage!
posted by multivalent at 5:40 PM on March 27, 2011
posted by multivalent at 5:40 PM on March 27, 2011
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posted by tumid dahlia at 5:30 AM on March 23, 2011