Angels perch on his shoulders. The figure is not freestanding but rendered in false relief, meaning the form is suggested through shallow carving rather than fully cut away from the stone, and the whole composition sits beneath a cusped pointed arch edged with foliate decoration. At 186 centimetres tall and only 44 centimetres wide, the slab is an unusually slender and elongated presence.

The effigy dates to the thirteenth century, a period when Ardfert was a significant ecclesiastical centre, its cathedral associated with the cult of Saint Brendan the Navigator. The carved figure is dressed in the full layered vestments of a medieval bishop: the alb, a long white liturgical undergarment; the dalmatic, a wide-sleeved outer tunic; and the chasuble worn over both. The mitre sits on his head, the amice frames his neck, and the orphreys, the fringed embroidered bands running along the vestments, are picked out with evident care by the carver. Whose likeness this is remains unrecorded. The use of green sandstone, a locally available material, and the sophistication of the iconographic programme both suggest a commission of some ambition, even if the identity of the subject has not survived.