New York No. 5

Baptismal font originally from an unknown church in the province of Toledo, Spain, now [2004] kept in the Museum of the Hispanic Society of America, in New York City. The font is described in the Society's Handbook (1938): "Of the fonts attributed to Toledo, one (E503) is in the gallery of the Hispanic Museum. It is octagonal with a conical base [i.e., underbowl, not base] The decorations are painted green on the white ground; Gothic lettering, crosses, shields and Grecian frets are impressed into or applied to the surface. Such Moorish motives as the hand of Fatimah and the eye, protections against evil, are distributed among the Christian symbols." The surface is covered with white tin enamel, moulded pattern, the relief coated with green glaze. There is an iIrregular hole at the bottom of the basin, where it once joined a pedestal base. Noted and illustrated in McQuade (1999), who gives the measurements as "diameter 86.5 cm.; alto 64 cm" [sic]. Listed in Ecker's catalogue of the "Caliphs and Kings: the Art and Influence of Islamic Spain" exhibition (2004): "Tin-glazed earthenware with green glaze. Toledo ca. 1400". Ecker writes that "Five of these Toledan baptismal fonts have survived, and two others were known before they were destroyed in the Spanish Civil War", and notes, with reference to Frothingham (1936, after Gestoso), that "in 1671, the synod of Málaga ordered the destruction of ceramic baptismal fonts and their substitution with fonts of stone" but, neither was the order carried out strictly, nor did the manufacture of ceramic fonts or basin inserts stop at the time. Described and illustrated in Trusted (2007) as one of the "Christian works of art [that] might be made by Muslim craftsmen using traditional Islamic materials, techniques, and decorations, such as tin-glazed eartenware baptismal fonts with talismanic and prophylactic devices [...] This font is adorned with stamped hands and eyes, and a pointed thistle flower, thought to be Islamic devices."