Probably the oldest ‘high degree’ was that of “Scottish Master” (or “Scots Master”) which might have been worked in England as early as the 1730’ies. There is a text from Berlin, dated 1747, in the Kloss collection with the content of the degree. The story is that of master builders from Scotland who were not content with the replacement of the master’s word in the third degree. They went to the Holy Land to find clues to what the original master’s word might have been. They search the rubble of King Solomon’s Temple (hence the destroyed temple) and find “4 column-pieces lying on the ground in the shape of a saltire” (an X, see crossed pillars), which is convenient, because Scottish Master lodges are dedicated to Saint Andrew.
The image shows a “Scots Master” tracing board. It appears to be one of three drawings of the Swede Carl Friedrich Eckleff (1723-1786) Eckleff: “allegedly […] received [St Andrew’s or Ecossais degrees] from Strasbourg in 1756, and Chapter or Templar degrees […] from Geneva in 1759.” Out of which he created the nine-degree Swedish Rite. Similar images can be found in Germany in the same period.
Belton and Dachez make a point that in the very similar French “Maitre Parfait” degree, there are crossed pillars, but no clear references to a destroyed temple. This destroyed temple, therefor, appears to be a part of the London/Berlin (and later Scandinavian) “Scots Master” degree.
Broken columns still appear on some AASR tracing boards, such as on the 14th degree French boards.
The three drawings of Eckleff can be found on Freimaurer-wiki.de (accessed 26/7/2024). I can’t retrace where I found my image.