Vias

Results: 10 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

B1R01: design element - motifs - floral - fleur-de-lis

Scene Description: Several "fleurs de lis à étamines" under a Gothic arcade

Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Corblet (1881: v. 2, p. 129)

Copyright Instructions: PD

B1R02: symbol - shield - cross - croix de Toulouse

Scene Description: At least one, under a Gothic arch in the upper register [cf. FontNotes for details]

Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Corblet (1881: v. 2, p. 129)

Copyright Instructions: PD

B2R01: design element - motifs - floral - fleur-de-lis

Scene Description: A row of the plain type in the middle register of the basin side

Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Corblet (1881: v. 2, p. 129)

Copyright Instructions: PD

B3R01: animal - fabulous animal or monster - centaur

Scene Description: Under a round arch of the lower register of the basin side

Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Corblet (1881: v. 2, p. 129)

Copyright Instructions: PD

B3R02: symbol - zodiacal signs - Sagittarius (zodiacal sign of November)

Scene Description: a/p Corblet's description

Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Corblet (1881: v. 2, p. 129)

Copyright Instructions: PD

B3R03: human figure - warrior - 2 - fighting - with club and shield

Scene Description: a/p Corblet, Pudelko, etc.

Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Corblet (1881: v. 2, p. 129)

Copyright Instructions: PD

B3R04: animal - fabulous animal or monster - dragon?

Scene Description: Appears to be a coiled-tail dragon in Corblet's illustration

Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Corblet (1881: v. 2, p. 129)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of church exterior - north view

Scene Description: Source caption: "Vias (Hérault) - Façade nord de l'église Saint-Jean-Baptiste (XIVe - XVe siècles)."

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 1 January 2008 by Fagairolles 34 [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vias_St-Jean_Baptiste_2.JPG] [accessed 8 January 2022]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-4.0

view of church exterior - south view

Scene Description: Source caption: "Vias (Hérault) - Façade sud de l'église Saint-Jean-Baptiste (XIVe - XVe siècles)."

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 1 January 2008 by Fagairolles 34 [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vias_St-Jean_Baptiste_4.JPG] [accessed 8 January 2022]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-4.0

view of font

Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Corblet (1881: v. 2, p. 129)

Copyright Instructions: PD

INFORMATION

FontID: 00235VIA

Museum and Inventory Number: Musée Fabre, Montpellier?

Church/Chapel: Eglise Saint-Jean-Baptiste à Vias

Church Patron Saints: St. John the Baptist

Church Location: [NB: address & coordinates given for Vias] 34450 Vias, France -- Tel.: +33 4 67 21 66 65

Country Name: France

Location: Hérault, Occitanie

Directions to Site: Vias is located off the D917-D137 crossroads, 3 km S of Bessan, 3 km W of Agde, about 8-10 km E of Béziers (dir. Cap d'Agde), SW of Montpellier -- The Fabre museum is in dowtown Montpellier, down rue Foch just before the blvrd. Sarrail.

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocèse de Montpellier

Historical Region: Le Littoral-Agathois / Languedoc Roussillon

Font Location in Church: [at the Fabre museum, Montpellier]

Century and Period: 13th century, Gothic

Workshop/Group/Artisan: lead font

Church Notes: 14thC church -- church listed in Mérimée [ref.: PA00103748]: "L'église remonte à la seconde moitié du 14e siècle. Son plan rappelle le plan type des églises gothiques du Languedoc mais avec l'intention d'indiquer un transept, ce qui constitue une variété."

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

Listed by Enlart (1902) as a 13th century lead font. Nordström (1984), citing Pudelko (1932) as source, notes that there is a representation of fighting men on this font. Corblet (1881-182: v. 2, p. 128, 129) describes and illustrates the font which, though originally from the parish church at Vias, it is now [1881-1882] located in the museum of Montpellier [Musée Fabre?]. The cylindrical lead font has three registers of ornamentation, with a very thin band of floral and foliage motif separating the upper from the middle register. The upper register has chiefly "fleur de lis à étamines" and "croix tolosanes"; the middle register has plain fleur-de-lis motifs all around; the bottom register has, according to Corblet, a centaur, a Sagittarius, a warrior fighting another, armed with club and shield, a fantastic animal [dragon?], and he mentions as well a shield in this register with "la croix cléchée et pommelé qu'on trouve sur les sceaux et les monnaies de Raymond VIet de Raymond VII, comtes de Toulouse", although in his illustration the shield is shown on the upper register; perhaps there are others in the lower register, at the back. Lasteyrie (1926-1927) illustrates the font as well and informs that Victor Gay attributed this font to circa 1240 [Lasteyrie quotes Gay's Glossaire archéologique du moyen âge et de la Renaissance, t. i, col. 730 (ibid., v. 2, p. 513 footnote 4)]. With respect to the date, however, Lasteyrie states that he would date the font a century earlier ["plus jeune de prés d'un siècle"] (ibid.). [NB: Raymond VII, born in 1197, was count of Toulouse from 1222 until his death in 1249 (source: LC Auth, after the Grand Lasousse encycl.) PALISSY [ref.: PM34001651] lists it as: "Fonts baptismaux -- fonderie -- église -- plomb -- 13e siècle".

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 43.312553, 3.416854

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 43° 18′ 45.19″ N, 3° 25′ 0.67″ E

UTM: 31T 533804 4795609

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: metal, lead

Font Shape: cylindrical (unmounted)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: round

REFERENCES

Corblet, Jules, Histoire dogmatique, liturgique et archéologique du sacrement de baptême, Paris: V. Palme, 1881-1882

Enlart, Camille, Manuel d'archéologie française depuis les temps mérovingiens jusqu'à la Renaissance, Paris: Alphonse Picard & fils, 1902

Lasteyrie du Saillant, Robert Charles, conte de, Architecture réligieuse en France à l'époque gothique (éd. posthume par Marcel Aubert)[2 vols.], Paris: A. Picard, 1926-1927

Nordström, Folke, Mediaeval Baptismal Fonts: An Iconographical Study, Stockholm: Universitetet i Umeå, 1984

Pudelko, Georg, Romanische Taufsteine, Berlin: Wurfel Verlag, 1932