Eidsberg / Edsberg

Ruprich-Robert (1884-1889: Ill. in pl. CLXXI, fig 1) shows a drawing of a very regularly carved font; the basin has a plain rim flush with the rest of the basin; below it a wide band of vegetal motif with dotted band forming circles; below it a plain edge and a plain underbowl. The basin meets the base with a rope-motif ring; below it a narrower base with vegetal motif. The lower base starts with a wider rope-motif ring -like the upper one- and a mouldings widening to the very bottom. Blindheim (1965: 57n6 and fig. 220) illustrates the font and writes: "The Eidsberg font in Östfold is one of the monuments around Oslofjord which ultimately might betray a northern influence. The immediate source could well have been one of the lost fonts in the Oslo churches. It must be dated among the latest of the many Romanesque fonts which are preserved in Norwegian churches and museums". Listed and illustrated in Solhaug (2001) as a baptismal font made of soapstone ca. 1200-1250, "Hovedtype II: Kalkformet: Variant 1 A a". Medieval baptismal font made of a steatite stone [i.e., soapstone] consisting of a round slightly tapering basin decorated with a wide acanthus vine with beaded-tape pattern on it; the same pattern appears on the two rope mouldings on the stem of the base, and another vine like the one on the basin decorates the stem of the base; the lower base has graded mouldings. The font has been said in some sources to be an import from Gotland, from the workshop of Anonymous Calcarius, not a likely fact if only taking into account the material. No cover present.