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A lamb carved on a monument, most often a child's.
Also known as: Lamb of God, Sheep on a grave
A lamb. Carries the Christian Agnus Dei, and on gravestones is strongly associated with the graves of children — an association well enough attested in surveyed burial grounds to be treated as more than a claim.
On gravestones strongly associated with the graves of children, an association supported by surveys of dated burial grounds rather than only by the popular literature.
Contexts: History
Read as innocence and gentleness, which is the conventional gloss on why it marks a child's grave. The reading is standard and the carvers left no statement of it.
A small sheep shown in profile lying down or standing, with a curved fleecy back, sometimes with a ring-shaped halo above its head.