Chalons-sur-Marne No. 1 / Châlons-sur-Marne / Châlons-en-Champagne

Results: 15 records

view of font

[NB: seen here after the total reconstruction of the font from the surviving fragments of the basin]
Scene Description: [NB: seen here after the total reconstruction of the font from the surviving fragments of the basin]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © C.S. Drake, 2002
Image Source: B&W photograph by C.S. Drake
Copyright Instructions: Photograph and Permission received

view of basin - detail

the basin of the old font during the process of its restoration from the surviving fragments
Scene Description: the basin of the old font during the process of its restoration from the surviving fragments
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Ministère de la Culture (France), Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine (objets mobiliers), 2010
Image Source: B&W photograph taken by Henri Graindorge, in Mémoire [ref.:AP55P01847] [www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/memoire/0007/sap01_55p01847_p.jpg] [accessed 13 April 2016]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-NC-ND 4.0 = Licence Ouverte / CC-BY-SA-4.0

view of basin - fragment

the surviving fragments of the basin of the old font before its restoration
Scene Description: the surviving fragments of the basin of the old font before its restoration
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Ministère de la Culture (France), Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine (objets mobiliers), 2010
Image Source: B&W photograph in Mémoire [ref.: AP51W00199] [www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/memoire/1934/sap83_51w00199_p.jpg] [accessed 13 April 2016]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-NC-ND 4.0 = Licence Ouverte / CC-BY-SA-4.0

view of basin - detail

the text in Palissy [ref.: PM51000156] describes the surviving fragments of the font, seen here during its restoration: "Cuve baptismale (fragment). Subsiste une partie de la cuve. Le pied n'est indiqué que par son départ à décor de stries hélicoïdales. Schiste rappelant de près la pierre de Tournay."
Scene Description: the text in Palissy [ref.: PM51000156] describes the surviving fragments of the font, seen here during its restoration: "Cuve baptismale (fragment). Subsiste une partie de la cuve. Le pied n'est indiqué que par son départ à décor de stries hélicoïdales. Schiste rappelant de près la pierre de Tournay."
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Ministère de la Culture (France), Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine (objets mobiliers), 2010
Image Source: B&W photograph in Mémoire [ref.: AP51W00200] [www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/memoire/1934/sap83_51w00200_p.jpg] [accessed 13 April 2016]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-NC-ND 4.0 = Licence Ouverte / CC-BY-SA-4.0

view of basin - detail

the text in Palissy [ref.: PM51000156] describes the surviving fragments of the font, seen here during its restoration: "Cuve baptismale (fragment). Subsiste une partie de la cuve. Le pied n'est indiqué que par son départ à décor de stries hélicoïdales. Schiste rappelant de près la pierre de Tournay."
Scene Description: the text in Palissy [ref.: PM51000156] describes the surviving fragments of the font, seen here during its restoration: "Cuve baptismale (fragment). Subsiste une partie de la cuve. Le pied n'est indiqué que par son départ à décor de stries hélicoïdales. Schiste rappelant de près la pierre de Tournay."
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Ministère de la Culture (France), Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine (objets mobiliers), 2010
Image Source: B&W photograph in Mémoire [ref.: AP51W00201] [www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/memoire/1934/sap83_51w00201_p.jpg] [accessed 13 April 2016]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-NC-ND 4.0 = Licence Ouverte / CC-BY-SA-4.0

design element - motifs - palmette

all around the upper surface of the rim, forming a pattern (except where eroded]
Scene Description: all around the upper surface of the rim, forming a pattern (except where eroded]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Collins, 1981
Image Source: Collin (1981: pl. 91)
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

angel - blowing horn, oliphant or trumpet

[NB: seen here after the total reconstruction of the font from the surviving fragments of the basin]
Scene Description: [NB: seen here after the total reconstruction of the font from the surviving fragments of the basin]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Collins, 1981
Image Source: Collin (1981: pl. 91)
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

angel - blowing horn, oliphant or trumpet

[NB: seen here after the total reconstruction of the font from the surviving fragments of the basin]
Scene Description: [NB: seen here after the total reconstruction of the font from the surviving fragments of the basin]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Collins, 1981
Image Source: Collin (1981: pl. 92) [detail]
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

angel - blowing horn, oliphant or trumpet - holding book with left hand

the winged figures appear tonsured -though this may be the effect of the shape of the font- and dressed in liturgical garments; the horns, oliphants, as accurately described in Drake, are magnificent examples, quite large and decorated with several ornate rings -- [NB: seen here after the total reconstruction of the font from the surviving fragments of the basin]
Scene Description: the winged figures appear tonsured -though this may be the effect of the shape of the font- and dressed in liturgical garments; the horns, oliphants, as accurately described in Drake, are magnificent examples, quite large and decorated with several ornate rings -- [NB: seen here after the total reconstruction of the font from the surviving fragments of the basin]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Collins, 1981
Image Source: Collin (1981: pl. 92) [detail]
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

human figure - head

small heads, some human, some bird-like, appear here and there, on the sides of the basin -- [NB: seen here after the total reconstruction of the font from the surviving fragments of the basin]
Scene Description: small heads, some human, some bird-like, appear here and there, on the sides of the basin -- [NB: seen here after the total reconstruction of the font from the surviving fragments of the basin]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Collins, 1981
Image Source: Collin (1981: pl. 92)
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

design element - motifs - varied

romboid, zig-zag, shield-shaped, etc. appear -usually in groups of four- on the thin bands above and below the figures of the sides -- [NB: seen here after the total reconstruction of the font from the surviving fragments of the basin]
Scene Description: romboid, zig-zag, shield-shaped, etc. appear -usually in groups of four- on the thin bands above and below the figures of the sides -- [NB: seen here after the total reconstruction of the font from the surviving fragments of the basin]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Collins, 1981
Image Source: Collin (1981: pl. 92)
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

human figure - 5

Rows of human figures, some naked, hugging or touching, cover the sides of the basin; identified by Collin [cf. Font notes] as the resurrection of the dead -- [NB: seen here after the total reconstruction of the font from the surviving fragments of the basin]
Scene Description: Rows of human figures, some naked, hugging or touching, cover the sides of the basin; identified by Collin [cf. Font notes] as the resurrection of the dead -- [NB: seen here after the total reconstruction of the font from the surviving fragments of the basin]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Collins, 1981
Image Source: Collin (1981: pl. 92)
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of basin in context

the restored basin being moved into the tower chapel -- Source caption in Mémoire: "mise en place des fonts baptismaux terminés dans la chapelle de la tour"
Scene Description: the restored basin being moved into the tower chapel -- Source caption in Mémoire: "mise en place des fonts baptismaux terminés dans la chapelle de la tour"
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Ministère de la Culture (France), Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine (objets mobiliers), 2010
Image Source: B&W photograph in Mémoire [ref.: AP51W00202] [www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/memoire/1934/sap83_51w00202_p.jpg] [accessed 13 April 2016]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-NC-ND 4.0 = Licence Ouverte / CC-BY-SA-4.0

view of font

note the lack of angle colonnettes -- [NB: seen here after the total reconstruction of the font from the surviving fragments of the basin]
Scene Description: note the lack of angle colonnettes -- [NB: seen here after the total reconstruction of the font from the surviving fragments of the basin]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Collins, 1981
Image Source: Collin (1981: pl. 92)
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

INFORMATION

Font ID: 02474CHA
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Date: 1147?
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th century (early? / mid?), Romanesque
Workshop/Group/Artisan: Tournai font
Cognate Fonts: see other Tournai fonts
Church / Chapel Name: Cathedrale Saint-Etienne, Chalons-en-Champagne
Font Location in Church: In the chapel of St-Jean-Baptiste [Drake: cathedral museum]
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Stephen
Church Address: Pl. Saint-Etienne, 51000 Châlons-en-Champagne, France
Site Location: Marne, Grand Est, France, Europe
Directions to Site: Châlons-sur-Marne or, Châlons-en-Champagne, as it is better known today, lies about 45 km SE of Reims on the A4 or the N44, on the banks of the Marne river
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocèse de Châlons
Additional Comments: destroyed font (broken up into fragments and used as construction rubble in the transept -- restored font: basin totally rebuilt from the fragments -- have N-images only)
Font Notes:
Listed in Palissy [ref.: PM51000156]: "fonts baptismaux [...] Cuve baptismale (fragment). Subsiste une partie de la cuve. Le pied n'est indiqué que par son départ à décor de stries hélicoïdales. Schiste rappelant de près la pierre de Tournay [...] 12e siècle". Described and illustrated in Collin (1981), who dates it to the first half of the 12th century and informs that it had been broken into fragments used as building material in the south transept tower. Ghislain (1986) identifies it as the original font from the church that was consecrated in 1147. Described and illustrated in Drake (2002) A magnificent "Ardennes-type" font with a square basin at whose corners are located interestingly carved single figures, tonsured and winged, playing large horns; the basin sides are ornamented by rows of smaller figures touching or hugging each other (identified in Collin (ibid.) as scenes of the resurrection of the dead); under and above the latter there is a band which has romboid, zig-zag and shield motifs; a diagonal ribbed pattern decorates the underbowl; plain cylindrical base, the plinth is square and plain as well; the upper surface of the bowl, bordering the round well, is beautifully carved as is the usual in Tournai fonts, in this case with a pattern of palmettes [NB: curiously, Collins (ibid.) mentions a central shaft and four angle colonnettes ["portée par un pied cylindrique au centre et quatre colonnettes d'angle, moulurées an spirale", even though his own photograph shows clearly a monopedicular base -- it is quite possible, however, that it may have had the angle colonnettes originally]. Drake [cf. infra] locates the font in the cathedral museum and comments "much repaired [...] only figured Tournai font with identical decoration on all sides [it is similar, but not identical] - decoration very like the Mosan font at Neerhespen in Belgium" [source: personal communication to BAPTISTERIA SACRA of 26 August 1998]. Described and illustrated in https://jeanluccollignon.blog4ever.com/des-baptisteres-marnais-importes-de-belgique [accessed 6 August 2022].
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to C.S. Drake for the information on and image of this font

COORDINATES

UTM: 31U 599407 5423361
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 48.95517, 4.357883
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 48° 57′ 18.61″ N, 4° 21′ 28.38″ E

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, limestone (black and blue) (Tournai marble)
Font Shape: square, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: square

REFERENCES

  • Collin, Hubert, Champagne romane, La Pierre-qui-vire, Yonne: Zodiaque, 1981, p. 176 and pl. 91, 92
  • Drake, Colin Stuart, The Romanesque Fonts of Northern Europe and Scandinavia, Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2002, p. 5, 16 fn33, 43, 49 fn92, 540, 54, 58, 59, 176 and pl. 115
  • Ghislain, Jean-Claude, "La cuve baptismale romane de Wauthier-Braine", VII, Annales du Cercle historique et folklorique de Braine-le-Château, Tubize et des Régions voisines, 1986, pp. 89-[120]; p. 94, 99
  • Index of Medieval Art, The Index of Medieval Art, Index of Christian Art, Princeton, [s.d.]. URL: https://theindex.princeton.edu/.
  • Lucot, P., "L'ancienne cuve de la cathédrale de Châlons-sur-Marne", 1901-1902, Mémoires de la Société d'agriculture, commerce, sciences et arts du Département de la Marne, 1901-1902, pp. 65-71; p. 65-71
  • Pressouyre, Léon, "Réflexion sur la sculpture du XIIe siècle en Champagne", 9-II, Gesta, 1970, pp. 16, 17, 28 fn7; p. 16-17, 28 fn7
  • Pudelko, Georg, Romanische Taufsteine, Berlin: Wurfel Verlag, 1932, pl. VII