Cuevas de San Clemente / Covas Sancti Clementis

Described and illustrated in Bilbao (1996). Described and illustrated in the Enciclopedia del románico en Castilla y León (2002- ) [https://www.romanicodigital.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/files/burgos_CUEVAS_DE_SAN_CLEMENTE.pdf] [accessed 16 March 2023] as a Romanesque baptismal font: "pila bautismal románica, único testimonio del mobiliario litúrgico medieval que ha llegado hasta nuestros días. Se encuentra ubicada en la parte anterior de la nave de la epístola. Consta de doble basamento circular de 38 cm de altura, decorado con arquillos incisos en la parte inferior y borde biselado en el superior. La copa es de forma semiesférica (102 cm de diámetro × 50 cm de alto) y se decora con motivos figurativos de talla muy somera. Una cenefa de dientes de sierra enmarca una arquería sobre columnas entorchadas que cobijan tetrapétalas inscritas en círculos, dos serpientes, aves afrontadas picoteando piñas y otra de mayor tamaño que ocupa todo el espacio del arco." The entry for this village in Emiliano Nebreda Perdiguero [www.archiburgos.es/wp-content/uploads/amo-a-mi-pueblo.pdf] [accessed 16 March 2023] notes: "La iglesia, dedicada a San Miguel, Arcángel, es renacentista […] la pila es románica, buena, de vaso, con arcos y figuras en relieve, cenefa superior vegetal y base moldurada." The font consists of a roughly hemispherical basin, the upper side decorated with an acanthus vine, with a triangular pattern right below that; the sides and underbowl is an arcade of round arches on torsade columns; inside the arches are: two birds eating fruit, both facing right; a pair of snakes rolled into a ball; a stork facing right; two folral or cross motifs; another pair of birds eating fruit, similar to the first pair but these face each other; three encircled floral motifs, one with three petals, two with four petals;. The round plinth is surrounded by the representation of a snake. Two metal staples from the old cover at the upper rim; raised on a squat round base with a thick moulding all around that turns to be a snake, the head and tail meeting; the lowwer side below the snake nas incised round arch-heads all around. There is no cover present now but the upper rim of the basin retains two metal spales from an old cover. In addition to the font noted above there is a curious holy-water stoup of a much later date, a circular basin raised on a base decorated with human heads and feet, held from behind by a seated (?) female with long hair; it is damaged on the basin sides.