An effigial tomb, to use the technical term, is one where the deceased is depicted lying in stone above their burial place, and examples survive across medieval Ireland in varying states of completeness. This one survives only in fragments, displaced from its original setting in the cathedral and now kept in storage rather than on display.

The three pieces were documented by John Hunt in his 1974 survey of Irish medieval figure sculpture. Together they describe a man of high ecclesiastical rank. One fragment, roughly 30 by 24 centimetres, preserves part of the head wearing a mitre, the tall liturgical headdress associated with bishops and archbishops. A second and larger piece, 48 by 33 centimetres, captures the chest: the figure wears a chasuble, a sleeveless outer vestment worn during Mass, with a pallium draped over the shoulders. The pallium, a narrow band of white wool worn over the chasuble, was a mark of metropolitan authority granted directly by the papacy, which strongly suggests the subject was an archbishop rather than a mere bishop. The left hand originally held a crozier, the pastoral staff symbolic of a shepherd's role over a flock; only fragments of it remain, though a decorative knop, the ornamental knob partway up the staff, is still visible. The right hand is gloved and raised in the conventional gesture of blessing. A third fragment, 43 by 40 centimetres, shows the lower portion of the chasuble. No inscription or other identifying feature is recorded, so the identity of the archbishop depicted remains unknown.

The Vicars' Choral, where the fragments are held, is accessible to visitors to the Rock of Cashel site, though the pieces themselves are in storage rather than on open display. Anyone with a close interest in medieval ecclesiastical sculpture would find Hunt's 1974 catalogue the most detailed description currently available.