Pradilla de Belorado / Pratella

Described in Bilbao (1996) as a baptismal font of the Romanesque period; ribbed outer side of the basin ornamented with two bands or zig-zag motif and another of little arches. Round base with torsade motif. Bilbao (ibid.) mentions that the upper surface of the basin still has several characters on it, all that is left of the original inscription now illegible. Described in the Enciclopedia del románico en Castilla y León (2002- ) [https://www.romanicodigital.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/files/burgos_PRADILLA_DE_BELORADO.pdf] [accessed 29 March 2023] as consisting of a hemispherical basin decorated with ribbed pattern, two bands of saw-teeth and one of arch-heads; raised on a torsade pedestal base; it gives the fonts at Fresneda de la Sierra and Santa Olalla del Valle as cognates and offers a date in the late 12th or early 13th century for it: "El templo parroquial de San Esteban Protomártir conserva una pila bautismal románica (89 cm de diámetro × 87 cm de altura) ubicada a los pies de la nave. Consta de un pie helicoidal sobre el que apoya una copa semiesférica decorada con gallones, dos cenefas de dientes de sierra y una tercera de arquillos. Desde el punto de vista tipológico y ornamental guarda un extraordinario parecido con otras pilas de la misma comarca, especialmente con los ejemplares de Fresneda de la Sierra (1187), Santa Olalla del Valle y Eterna (1185). Precisamente las datas aportadas por dos de éstas hacen suponer para la pieza de Pradilla una cronología cercana a los años finales del siglo XII o comienzos del XIII." The entry for this village in Emiliano Nebreda Perdiguero [www.archiburgos.es/wp-content/uploads/amo-a-mi-pueblo.pdf] [accessed 29 March 2023] notes: "Su pila es románica con gallones y cenefa decorada y pie cilíndrico también decorado". Neither of these two sources mentions an inscription on the font. Sanchez Rodriguez (2004) reports this font among the many that were produced by a workshop identified by this author as the "Taller en torno a Santo Domingo de la Calzada", "hechas en serie, sin apenas variantes entre si" and made of a whitish sandstone.