The carved head, which measures just over twenty centimetres in length, is an architectural fragment recovered from Leggetsrath in County Kilkenny, and it is quietly remarkable for the detail preserved in so compact a piece of stone. Carved in low relief, a technique in which the image projects only slightly from its background surface, the face is thought to represent a bishop, identifiable by the mitre, the tall liturgical headdress worn by bishops and abbots, which rises above the figure's brow. The triangular peak of that mitre is partially broken, and a portion of the left cheek has been lost, but enough survives to read the face clearly: almond-shaped eyes, a flat nose that splays gently toward the nostrils, and a small mouth rendered by a fine incised line. The face itself tapers to a rounded point at the chin, giving it an almost leaf-like outline.

The carving is dated on stylistic grounds to the fifteenth century, a period when Irish ecclesiastical architecture was producing considerable sculptural work, often integrating figural carvings into doorways, corbels, and chancel arches. Limestone was the material of choice across much of Leinster, and its relatively fine grain allowed carvers to achieve the kind of restrained, legible detail seen here, including what appears to be lightly incised decoration on the surface of the mitre, though this is only faintly suggested. The precise origin of the fragment within the Leggetsrath area is not recorded, and its architectural context, whether it once formed part of a church, a tomb, or some other religious structure, remains unknown. It is now held in the Office of Public Works store in Kilkenny, catalogued as depot stone carving number KD007.