Lombez No. 1 / Lumbarium

Corblet (1881-1882) describes this basin as having two registers: the upper shows a hunting scene, while the lower is divided into four sections and houses sixteen figures altogether; Corblet (ibid.) dates the font to the 13th century. A number of French metal fonts are mentioned in Germain Bapst's Les métaux dans l'antiquité et au moyen age : l'étain (Paris, 1884: 137): "Les fonts baptismaux furent quelquefois en plomb. Le musée de Cluny en conserve du treizième siècle où existent de petits décors peu intéressants : la forme n'est pas gracieuse. Nous avons trouvé trace de cuves analogues dans deux églises du Midi, à Bouret [i.e., Bourret] et à Verdun-sur-Garonne, et puis successivement à Beaumont-de-Lomagne, à Lombez, à Aulin, toujours dans la même région." Enlart (1902) dates the fonts at Puycasquier, Lasserre, etc., to the 13th century. Viollet-le-Duc (1875) states that the same pattern has been repeated five times to decorate the first register and that the figures of the lower register, which, according to him, represent religious orders, are a repetition of four basic models. These repetitive patterns, adds Viollet-le-Duc, made the manufacture of such fonts an inexpensive endeavour since "les fondeurs ou potiers d'étain qui les vendaient les composaient avec des modèles conservés en magasin." Duchemin (1890) notes some similarities betwee the fonts at Bourg-Achard, Plomber and Visme, all in France. In Lethaby (1893) after Viollet-le-Duc. Noted in Chastel (1966) as one of several decorated metal fonts made of plates of lead soldered together. The Dictionnaire des églises... (1966- ) describes it as "probablement de facture toulousaine." Unlike most other French lead fonts, some of which are tall and narrow, this one is wide and low [78 x 30 cm as reported in Viollet-le-Duc (ibid.)] On-site notes: the cylindrical lead font is now situated in the centre of the baptistry building of the cathedral, raised on a stone base (a hemispheric upper base that looks like a rounded underbowl and a square pedestal). The basin sides show two registers: the upper one depicts a hunting scene in which a man points his bow and arrow at a lion; a dragon can also be seen on this register; this scene is repeated all around the basin upper side [NB: this upper register is practically repeated in the nearby font at Sabonnères -- cf. Index entry]. The lower register has four monks dressed in habits, either holding books or pointing at books; this sequence is repeated five times, to a total of twenty figures. The Palissy entry for the font at Pébées [ref.: PM32000311] notes: "Ces fonts baptismaux s'apparentent étroitement à ceux, déjà classés, de Lombez. Ils proviennent très certainement du même atelier, sans doute installé à Toulouse." This font is made of several plates of set design repeated around the basin with soldering showing at the edges; it is apparent that some of the plates on this font were made using the same moulds used at Lombez, Pébées, Pycasquier, Sabonnères, Saiguède and others.