Dorat No. 1 / Le Dorat

Results: 24 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

animal - mammal - lion - passant

Scene Description: W side of the font, S end: facing right

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 5 July 2001 by BSI

animal - mammal - lion - passant

Scene Description: W side of the font, N end: this lion shares the head with the unidentifies quadruped in the next image (N side of the font)

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 5 July 2001 by BSI

animal - mammal - quadruped

Scene Description: N side of the font: this animal shares part of the head at the corner with the one from the other side, but on this north side of the font it does not look like a lion, nor does it have the characteristic lion tail

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 5 July 2001 by BSI

view of basin's top

Scene Description: west side of the font

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 5 July 2001 by BSI

view of church exterior

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 5 July 2001 by BSI

view of church exterior - apse

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 5 July 2001 by BSI

view of church exterior - apse

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 5 July 2001 by BSI

view of church exterior - east tower

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 5 July 2001 by BSI

view of church exterior - east tower - detail

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 5 July 2001 by BSI

view of church exterior - northwest view

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 June 2014 by Michel Claveyrolas

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 13 September 2017)

view of church exterior - northwest view

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 5 July 2001 by BSI

view of church exterior - tower

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 5 July 2001 by BSI

view of church exterior - west portal

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 5 July 2001 by BSI

view of church interior - apse - detail

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 5 July 2001 by BSI

view of church interior - detail

Scene Description: capital: Daniel and the lions

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 5 July 2001 by BSI

view of church interior - nave - looking east

Scene Description: with the old font in the foreground

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 June 2014 by Michel Claveyrolas

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 13 September 2017)

view of font - north side

Scene Description: note the unfinished and unidentified quadruped

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 5 July 2001 by BSI

view of font - south side

Scene Description: note the drain hole and damage on the side

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 5 July 2001 by BSI

view of font - south side

Scene Description: note the drain hole and damage on the side

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 5 July 2001 by BSI

view of font - southwest side

Scene Description: showing the side drain hole

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 June 2014 by Michel Claveyrolas

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 13 September 2017)

view of font - west side

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 June 2014 by Michel Claveyrolas

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 13 September 2017)

view of font - west side

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 5 July 2001 by BSI

view of font in context

Scene Description: at the west end of the centre aisle

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 June 2014 by Michel Claveyrolas

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 13 September 2017)

view of font in context

Scene Description: view of the font in nave, from the west end, facing east

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 5 July 2001 by BSI

INFORMATION

FontID: 00360DOR

Church/Chapel: Eglise collégiale Saint-Pierre-aux-Liens

Church Patron Saints: St. Peter ad vincula

Church Location: rue de la Psalette, 87210 Le Dorat, France

Country Name: France

Location: Haute-Vienne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine

Directions to Site: Located off the D942, 12 kms N of Bellac, 77 km SE of Poitiers

Historical Region: Limousin

Font Location in Church: Inside the church, at the W endof the nave

Century and Period: 12th century, Romanesque

Cognate Fonts: other such vessels at Bellac, Châteauponsac, etc.

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Michel Claveyrolas for his photographs of this church and font

Church Notes: The Dictionnaire des églises... (1966-) that, although there is a tradition that Clovis founded a monastery here, there is no evidence left that there had been anything other than a small chapel or church before the 10th century. -- Listed in Mérimée [ref.: PA00100297]

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

Raymond Oursel's "Invention de l'architecture..." shows an oddly shaped, squat unmounted baptismal font. The visible side has two unidentifiable animals (description based on Oursel, 1986, ill. 148). Another illustration of this font shows, on the right side, two quadrupeds (lions to judge by the shape of the tails) back to back, their tails over the backs; on the left side can be discerned another such animal whose head is right at the corner and is therefore shared by the lion from the other side; made of granite; dated to the 11th century in Limousin roman, 1986, pl. 11, 74, 75, 77). Enlart (1902) describes as "de plan rectangulaire avec une sortie d'absidiole" ... "cuve ornée de lions" and dates it to the 12th century. Corblet (1881-1882) describes it as a large granite basin ornamented with fantastic animals and assigns it to the Romanesque period. The Dictionnaire des églises... (1966-) states that the font is earlier than the church (which was finished at the end of the 12th century) and that the odd side was meant to fit into a wall niche. Listed in Palissy [ref.: PM87000087] with 12th-century date. On-site notes: one of the most impressive baptismal fonts in France, if only for its massive size and unique shape; if the Dictionnaire... be right, the font still commands a place for itself and looks not an iota out of place in the centre of the nace, just inside the stairs; the west side of the font, the broadest, has two magnificent lions, back to back; the north side has a quadruped looking more like a lamb than anything else, while the south side is plain escept fro a drain hole on the side; the esta side of the plain, a semicircular shape, is also plain. The font appears to have been mounted at a late date on a multi-block base. [NB: a second large font and a holy-water stoup are also listed in the Index for this church] [NB: our gratitude to the collegiate staff for providing unhindered access to the fonts]

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 46.21417, 1.08194

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 46° 12′ 51.01″ N, 1° 4′ 54.98″ E

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, granite

Number of Pieces: one

Font Shape: trefoiled

Basin Interior Shape: trefoiled

Basin Exterior Shape: trefoiled

Drainage Notes: the hole is now [June 2001] sealed

Rim Thickness: 16-25 cm*

Diameter (inside rim): 120 x 131 cm*

Diameter (includes rim): 151 x 170 cm*

Basin Depth: 45-46 cm*

Height of Basin Side: 69 cm*

Basin Total Height: 69 cm*

Height of Base: 5-7 cm*

Font Height (less Plinth): 75 cm*

Notes on Measurements: * BSI on-site [NB: the basin appears to have been re-filled and may have been deeper originally; the basin sides are irregular]

REFERENCES

Dictionnaire des églises de France, Belgique, Luxembourg, Suisse, Paris: R. Laffont, 1966-

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

Index of Medieval Art, The Index of Medieval Art, Index of Christian Art, Princeton, [s.d.]. URL: https://theindex.princeton.edu/.

Oursel, Raymond, Invention de l'architecture romane, La Pierre-qui-vire, Yonne: Zodiaque, 1986

Oursel, Raymond, Routes romanes: la route aux saints, La Pierre-qui-vire, Yonne: Zodiaque, 1982

Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928

[Unknown], [Unknown], Limousin roman, La Pierre-qui-vire, Yonne: Zodiaque, 1960?