Boke

Noted in Drake (2002) as one of a group of Westphalian cylinder fonts, a sub-group of which have figures beneath a Lombard frieze (sub-group B3) [the fonts listed in this sub-group are: Aplerbeck, Bochum, Bramsche, Hagen, Lippoldsberg, Rastede]. Listed in the Christian Art Index: Baptism of Christ, Apostles. Bewermeir & Kößmeier (2007) use the fonts at Ostinghausen (Bad Sassendorf), Vellern (Beckum) and Lippborg (Lippetal) to try and establish the iconography of this font. These authors identify the four supports as the symbols of the four Evangelists, two of them (Luke and Matthews being replicas]; dating to the second quarter of the 13th century is attributed to Karl Noehles (1953); the similarity to the font at Ostinghausen is reiterated. The font is a roughly cylindrical basin of very weathered sandstone, decorated with a set of round arches containing the twelve Apostles and the scene of the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan; in this scene, John the Baptist, to the left, touches the head of Christ; Christ in the centre, the waters of the Jordan wrapping his lower body; on the right is a standing figure, probably the attending angel, although the carving is very blurred now; a band of decoration is now hardly discernible on the basin upper area; this area shows major damage and new stone replacement. The basin rests on four blocks identified [cf. supra] as the symbols of the Evangelists. The much eroded stone suggests that the font was exposed to the elements for a long time. There is a metal insert in the basin well. The reinstated font bears a conical metal cover; modern; the font is also shown [cf. ImagesArea] with a low-dome cover, also of metal in some photographs. The Parish site [www.pv-boke-ostenland.de/boke-ostenland/index.php?ber_id=383] [accessed 5 September 2014] describes the font as early-Romanesque ["frühromanische Taufstein"].