The Peeker of Sainte Foy

I saw an image of this little "peeker" from the abbey of Sainte Foy in Conques France ages ago. I was completely charmed by the notion that some Medieval stonemason had gone out of his way to carve this unexpectedly humorous character into an ornate archway that ordinarily would have been full of saints and fancy textural details. I wonder if this nonconforming little being was noticed and appreciated by people of the time who endured hours of terrifying sermons in the ice-cold church.