Henche No. 1

Baptismal font consisting of a rather irregular and roughly hemispherical basin mounted on a round pedestal base decorated with mouldings and a square lower base. Although Nieto Taberné (1994: 451) lists Henche with the Romanesque fonts of Cuenca, the same author, in a later work, (2000: 72) locates this font in Guadalajara province [NB: Cuenca and Guadalajara are contiguous provinces of Spain, and the village of Henche is very near the border between the two]. The latter source illustrates the font and describes it as a magnificent example, probably pre-12th century, ornamented with a blind arcade of Mozarabic arches (ibid.). The church is described in "Encuentros Culturales, 1996" [see Author Notes below] as dating from the Transition period, late 13th or early 14th century] [NB: the "Mapa Oficial de Carreteras" places Henche in the province of Guadalajara]. The Enciclopedia del románico en Castilla-La Mancha: Guadalajara (2009) notes a 13th-century Romanesque baptismal font in this church, somewhat similar to the one at Las Inviernas, with horseshoe arches on columns all around the basin sides; raised on a cylindrical stem decorated with a single rope moulding at the bottom, and a square lower base. The Enciclopedia… (ibid.) suggests the fonts at Ablanque, Cifuentes, Henche, Las Inviernas, Olmeda de Cobeta and El Picazo [now in Guadalajara capital], as being stylistically related. [cf. Index entry for Henche No. 2 for a holy-water stoup of the Gothic period in this church]