Begos No. 1 / Begòs

In a little church remodelled many times over, a baptismal font and stoup, both made of marble and decorated with foliation of similar, though not identical, appearance, the font being a more achieved work. The font itself rests on a polygonal base is decorated with a series of arcades (Durliat, 1978, p. 203-204) [NB: this "Begos" listed by Corblet in the Haute-Garonne département which borders with the Spanish province of Lérida/Lleida, must be the one located in the Val d'Aran. Corblet describes this as a pedestal font whose basin is ornamented with "dessins romans fort curieux" (Corblet, 1881-1882, v. 2, p. 128]), not necessarily matching Durliat's description of the ornamentation as "uniformément décorés d'un rinceaux" (Durliat, ibid.), which refers only to the basin vine Described and illustrated in Catalunya romànica (1984-, v. XIII: 353), which gives the fonts at Arros, Betlan and Montcorbau as being cognate; this same source informs that the lower base is not the original; they date the font to the 12th or even the beginning of the 13th century and identify the motif as #171 in Carbonell's classification. The entry for this church in the Enciclopedia del romanico [https://www.romanicodigital.com/el-romanico/imagenes-romanico/restos-iglesia-romanica-muro-norte-sant-roc-begos] [accessed 16 February 2022] notes: "En la estructura añadida al Norte de la nave en época moderna, se encuentra una pila bautismal de mármol, formada por una cubeta cilíndrica –de 77 cm de diámetro exterior y 56 cm el interior–, un soporte a modo de columna –de 42 cm de altura– y una base semipiramidal de 14 cm añadida en época moderna. La altura total de la pila alcanza los 88 cm. La cubeta posee los mismos elementos ornamentales que la pila benditera del templo consistentes en un zarcillo de viña que adopta la forma de espiral en cada uno de sus brotes, de los que nacen hojas lanceoladas. Este tipo de motivo vegetal es el más frecuente decoración esculpida románica de la zona, puesto que se encuentra en pilas bautismales (Sant Miquèu de Vielha), dinteles de portadas (Purificació de Maria de Bossòst) o impostas (Sant Pèir de Escunhau). El soporte presenta una sencilla decoración esculpida formada por una serie de estilizados arcos. Esta pila bautismal se asemeja a las de Sant Pèir de Betlan y Sant Estèue de Montcorbau, con las que presenta ciertos paralelismos iconográficos y estructurales." The round pedestal base is ornamented with a blind arcade of round arches in low relief and an incised cross toped with a rounded motif not mentioned in the above sources. There is no cover present, nor does the upper rim of the basin show any evidence of ever having had any anchoring hardware on it. There is a cylindrical stone object with carved sides and a small basin or hole in the top; it does not appear to be a holy-water stoup [cf. ImagesArea] and none of the sources available mention it. [cf. BSI entry for Begos No. 2 for a wall-mounted stoup listed for this church]