Saseta / Sáseta

Baptismal font listed and illustrated in López de Guereñu [https://photo.araba.eus/s/photoaraba/item/66092] [accessed 1 August 2024]: "Pila bautismal de la iglesia de San Esteban de Sáseta. Vista frontal de una pila bautismal románica. La copa no tiene decoración y el pie es románico, prismático cuadrangular, y tiene sus aristas rematadas en baquetones y estrías verticales. La cara anterior muestra un relieve con una figura llevando un instrumento extraño en una mano; debajo, la figura de un animal. Puede tratarse de un juego juglaresco o de una escena de matanza". Described and illustrated in Bilbao (1994: 26, 83-84, 130-131 and fig. 47) and (1996: 292-293) as a baptismal font of the Romanesque period: plain hemispherical basin mounted on a quadrangular base on the front of which appears jugglers scene: a juggler or minstrel with a performing animal perhaps [actually, a figure which appears to have been carved over a previous one]; now very worn; the figure is in profile and the naked legs are bent at the knees]; in his hand appears an object, probably a musical instrument; a tuft or plume hangs down from his hat; below this figure, an inverted quadruped with horns and tail, perhaps a goat. Bilbao (1992: 131) cites entries in the Catálogo Monumental de la Diócesis de Vitoria and in López de Guereñu. The entry for this church in Hispania Nostra [https://crowdfunding.hispanianostra.org/saseta-recuperando-nuestra-historia/1636] [accessed 1 August 2024] mentions the font, and its possible composite nature: "La pila bautismal merece también un comentario. Es una obra románica dividida en dos piezas. La copa semicircular es lisa y sin decoración alguna. Sin embargo, su pie prismático cuadrangular presenta un motivo curioso. En la pilastra románica es rematada en sus esquinas mediante baquetones. En la cara frontal aparecen dos figuras colocadas a distinto nivel. La superior humana con un tocado de plumas y un instrumento musical en sus manos. En el nivel inferior un animal. Garbiñe Bilbao lo ha relacionado con una escena de juglares. Esté [sic] pie, parece un elemento contractivo reutilizado para el fin que en la actualidad realiza." [NB: the suggestion in this latter source is reasonable, as the font is made up of two unmatched blocks, and the block serving now as base was probably made for other use but re-purposed here at some point; note also that the whole has been built into a corner of the church interior].