Bredsatra / Bredsattra / Bredsättra

Described and illustrated in Boström (1966- , Bd. II, hft. 4, p. 68ff): baptismal font attributed to one of the Calcarius masters of Gotland [cf. Roosval, 1918: 169ff and Strömbom, 1942: 81ff] and dated to between 1210 and 1260; the font is made of grey Gotland limestone [material identification by geologist Erik Åhman of Uppsala, a/p note in Boström, p. 90]. This font is very similar to the one at Runsten, in the same undred ["härad"]: cylindrical mounted, generally chalice-shaped; the basin has vertical sides ornamented with vine leaves [Boström cites John 15:5 for the symbolism (ibid., p. 68)], while chamfered underbowl is covered in scalloped pattern. The base consists of two volumes: the cylindrical stem is broad and ornamented with four heads, two human, two lion heads biting on the body of a snake or dragon whose body curls into an interlace in the spaces between the heads, a common enough iconographic program in the Romanesque fonts from Gotland; the lower base is square with ornamented corners, of which Boström identifies "a male head and a piece of parchment (?) with rolled edges" (ibid., p. 72 caption). Boström remarks the unusual thinness of the drain hole (only about 1 cm in diameter) and informs the font lay in pieces "from the 18th century [...] in the churchyard, and in 1859 was used as the base of a sundial. However, in 1919 it was brought into the church and in 1944, restored" (ibid., p. 99). Listed in Drake (2002: 183) as a baptismal font of the Calcarius workshop and ornamented with spiral tendril. Noted and illustrated in the SHM’s database Medeltidens bildvärld [ref.: 920810F2] as a baptismal font made of limestone by the Calcarius workshop in the early-13th century. [NB: we have no information on the furnishings of the nearby Sankt Britas kapell, of which only ruins remain]