Son No. 2 / Son del Pino / Sonne
Image copyright © Lander Sarasola, 2016
Image and permission received via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 29 August 2016)
Results: 9 records
animal - mammal - quadruped - donkey or horse? - passant
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Lander Sarasola, 2016
Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 August 2016 by Lander Sarasola
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 29 August 2016)
cleric - holding processional cross
Scene Description: one of three; the figure on the left side of the front panel
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Lander Sarasola, 2016
Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 14 August 2016 by Lander Sarasola
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 29 August 2016)
cleric? - 4
Scene Description: one of three; the figure on the right side of the front panel; appears to have been carved to denote distinction/rank - stylised Majestas Domini with the Tetramorphos around its head?
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Lander Sarasola, 2016
Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 14 August 2016 by Lander Sarasola
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 29 August 2016)
design element - motifs - circle - concentric
Scene Description: on the extreme right of the front panel, at the top, above the foral motif
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Lander Sarasola, 2016
Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 14 August 2016 by Lander Sarasola
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 29 August 2016)
design element - motifs - floral
Scene Description: on the extreme right of the front panel
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Lander Sarasola, 2016
Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 14 August 2016 by Lander Sarasola
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 29 August 2016)
design element - motifs - unidentified
Scene Description: on the upper side, above the two figures on the left
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Lander Sarasola, 2016
Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 August 2016 by Lander Sarasola
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 29 August 2016)
human figure - standing
Scene Description: one of three; the figure on the centre of the front panel -- the size and lack of ornamentation suggests perhaps an acolyte
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Lander Sarasola, 2016
Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 14 August 2016 by Lander Sarasola
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 29 August 2016)
view of font
Scene Description: notice the metal staples in the upper rim [cf. FontNotes]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Lander Sarasola, 2016
Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 August 2016 by Lander Sarasola
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 29 August 2016)
view of font
Scene Description: showing the two fully visible sides
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Lander Sarasola, 2016
Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 August 2016 by Lander Sarasola
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 29 August 2016)
INFORMATION
FontID: 02598SON
Church/Chapel: Església Parroquial de Sant Just i Sant Pastor / Iglesia Parroquial de San Justo y San Pastor
Church Patron Saints: St. Justus & St. Pastor
Church Location: Son, 25589 Lerida / Lleida, Spain
Country Name: Spain
Location: Lérida / Lleida, Cataluña / Catalunya
Directions to Site: Son is a small hamlet located 3 km SW of Esterri d'Aneu, in the Pallars Sobirà region of Catalonia, just S-E of the vall d'Aran, past the Bonaigua mountain port
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocesis de Urgel [formerly in the diocese of Cominges / Comminges]
Historical Region: Valle de Aran / Vall d'Aran
Font Location in Church: In a side alcove serving as baptistery, NW corner of the nave
Century and Period: 12th - 13th century, Romanesque
Workshop/Group/Artisan: oil font? / pica d'oli?
Cognate Fonts: Other such in the Vall d'Aran, Comminges, etc.
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Lander Sarasola for his photographs of this church and fonts
Described by Mestre i Godes and Adell (1999) as "attached to the wall; the simple but graceful ornamentation consists of three human figures and one flower" [our translation] on the visible narrow side. Trepat (1993) identifies a horse or donkey on the long side (the font is built into a corner of the alcove on two of its sides, a short and a long) and describes it as a very crude work ["obra molt tosca"] and, like the main font in this church [cf. Index entry for Son No. 1], its archaic appearance may be more directly related to the crudeness of the execution -writes Trepat- than to the their early origin. This font is one of the series of receptacles said by some to have served as immersion fonts in the old Comminge diocesis of the central-eastern Pyrenees. Several others of the same type can be found in churches of the Val d'Aran. Roser Trepat (1993) illustrates this irregular font [it cannot be said to be rectangular but, rather, trapezoidal or prysmatic -- cf. conflicting Font measurements]. Described and illustrated in Catalunya romànica (1984- , vol. XV: 152) where the measurements given are quite different from Trepat's [and probably correct]; of the three human figures carved on the front side of this object, the one at left is identified as carrying a processional cross, whereas the one on the right, is noted as much larger and highlighted by a highly ornamented backdrop [NB: this source appears to attribute this detail to 'horror vacui' rather than to an attempt to make the importance of this figure stand out]. Cabestany, Matas & Palau (2005) suggest attribution to a local rural workshop of the late 12th or early 13th century. This font is built into the wall on one of its narrow sides, and one of the long sides is against the other wall, leaving thus only two sides visible; the free narrow side is the one with the figural carvings; the free long side has an ungainly quadruped, a horse or donkey to judge by the mane, incised rather than carved on it. [NB: although entered under the general type of "oil font", this is not the only (?) oil font of this church; cf. Index entry for Son No. 3 for information on another such font -- oil fonts do not usually have locking lids, but this one was prepared for one exactly the same way a baptismal font usually was; was it used for baptism anyway?]
COORDINATES
Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal:
42.620881,
1.096597
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS:
42° 37′ 15.17″ N,
1° 5′ 47.75″ E
UTM: 31T 343904 4720472
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material:
stone, granite
Number of Pieces: one
Font Shape: trapezoidal (unmounted)
Basin Interior Shape: rectangular
Basin Exterior Shape: rectangular
Drainage Notes: no lining
Basin Depth: 30 cm*
Font Height (less Plinth): 60 cm* / 65 cm**
Trapezoidal Basin: 115 x 88 cm* / 170/120 x 90/70 cm**
Notes on Measurements: * [Catalunya romànica (1984- , vol. XV: 152)] / **[Trepat (1993): one long side is 170 cm, the other 120 cm; one short side is 90 cm, the other 70 cm]
LID INFORMATION
Notes: there are three iron staples visible in the upper rim, which indicates the earlier presence of a cover
REFERENCES
Cabestany i Fort, Joan-F., El romànic de la vall d'Àneu, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, 2005
Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalana, Catalunya romànica, Barcelona: Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalana, 1984-
Mestre i Godes, Jesús, Viatge al romànic català: les valls pirenenques, Barcelona: RACC Club-Edicions 62, 1999