Gentinnes / Gentines

Main image for Gentinnes / Gentines

Image copyright © EmDee, 2006

GFDL / CC-BY-SA-3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0

Results: 16 records

B01: human figure - male - with staff - cleric?

basin side 1:a figure in rich garments looking at the viewer and holding a thick adorned staff, at the right end of the side
Scene Description: basin side 1:a figure in rich garments looking at the viewer and holding a thick adorned staff, at the right end of the side
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), 2015
Image Source: detail of a B&W photograph taken in 1971 by Meuwis, I.R.P.A. [KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), cliché M69937]
Copyright Instructions: Reproduced in accordance with KIK-IRPA guidelines

B01: human figure - male - working - pruning vine

basin side 1: at the extreme left
Scene Description: basin side 1: at the extreme left
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), 2015
Image Source: B&W photograph in 1900, I.R.P.A. [KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), cliché M003091]
Copyright Instructions: Reproduced in accordance with KIK-IRPA guidelines

B01: animal - mammal - lion - head - inverted - vegetation stemming from mouth - vine

basin side 1: in the centre of the image
Scene Description: basin side 1: in the centre of the image
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), 2015
Image Source: B&W photograph taken in 1971 by Meuwis, I.R.P.A. [KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), cliché M69937]
Copyright Instructions: Reproduced in accordance with KIK-IRPA guidelines

B02: human figure - male - working - harvesting fruit

basin side 2: at the right end of the side -- the fruit bunches do not look like grapes, but arum, the fruit of the acanthus plant; a basket with some of the collected fruit at his feet
Scene Description: basin side 2: at the right end of the side -- the fruit bunches do not look like grapes, but arum, the fruit of the acanthus plant; a basket with some of the collected fruit at his feet
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © C. S. Drake, 2002
Image Source: C.S. Drake (Nov. 1998)
Copyright Instructions: Photograph and Permission received November 1998

B02: animal - mammal - lion - head - inverted - vegetation stemming from mouth - vine

the right side of the vine has fruit on it, while the left side has none
Scene Description: the right side of the vine has fruit on it, while the left side has none
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © C. S. Drake, 2002
Image Source: C.S. Drake (Nov. 1998)
Copyright Instructions: Photograph and Permission received November 1998

B03: animal - mammal - lion - head - vegetation stemming from its mouth - vine

side 3 of the basin
Scene Description: side 3 of the basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), 2015
Image Source: detail of a B&W photograph in 1900, I.R.P.A. [KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), cliché M69937]
Copyright Instructions: Reproduced in accordance with KIK-IRPA guidelines

B03: animal - bird - dove - facing each other - 2

side 3 of the basin
Scene Description: side 3 of the basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), 2015
Image Source: detail of a B&W photograph in 1900, I.R.P.A. [KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), cliché M69937]
Copyright Instructions: Reproduced in accordance with KIK-IRPA guidelines

B04: animal - bird - dove - facing each other - 2

side 4 of the basin; notice the carving detail on the feathers of the birds
Scene Description: side 4 of the basin; notice the carving detail on the feathers of the birds
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © EmDee, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph taken in 2006 by EmDee [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gentinnes_-_Fonts_04.jpg] [accessed 3 April 2015]
Copyright Instructions: GFDL / CC-BY-SA-3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0

B04: animal - mammal - lion - head - vegetation stemming from its mouth - vine

side 4 of the basin
Scene Description: side 4 of the basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), 2015
Image Source: B&W photograph taken in 1971 by Meuwis, I.R.P.A. [KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), cliché M69936]
Copyright Instructions: Reproduced in accordance with KIK-IRPA guidelines

RS01: Apostle or saint - Evangelists - St. Matthew - symbol - angel

in one of the spandrels of the basin top; seen here in the foreground, right spandrel
Scene Description: in one of the spandrels of the basin top; seen here in the foreground, right spandrel
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), 2015
Image Source: B&W photograph in 1900, I.R.P.A. [KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), cliché M003091]
Copyright Instructions: Reproduced in accordance with KIK-IRPA guidelines

RS02: Apostle or saint - Evangelists - St. Mark - symbol - winged lion - with scroll

in one of the spandrels of the basin top; seen here in the foreground, left spandrel
Scene Description: in one of the spandrels of the basin top; seen here in the foreground, left spandrel
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), 2015
Image Source: B&W photograph in 1900, I.R.P.A. [KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), cliché M003091]
Copyright Instructions: Reproduced in accordance with KIK-IRPA guidelines

RS03: Apostle or saint - Evangelists - St. Luke - symbol - winged bull - with scroll

in one of the spandrels of the basin top; seen here in the background, right spandrel
Scene Description: in one of the spandrels of the basin top; seen here in the background, right spandrel
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), 2015
Image Source: B&W photograph in 1900, I.R.P.A. [KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), cliché M003091]
Copyright Instructions: Reproduced in accordance with KIK-IRPA guidelines

RS04: Apostle or saint - Evangelists - St. John - symbol - eagle - with scroll

in one of the spandrels of the basin top; seen here in the background, left spandrel
Scene Description: in one of the spandrels of the basin top; seen here in the background, left spandrel
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), 2015
Image Source: B&W photograph in 1900, I.R.P.A. [KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), cliché M003091]
Copyright Instructions: Reproduced in accordance with KIK-IRPA guidelines

view of font and cover

the brass font cover is very much in the style of covers in the Namur area, a dome with a cross finial, some of them as early as the late-16th or early-17th century, later ones made much in the same style through the 19th century
Scene Description: the brass font cover is very much in the style of covers in the Namur area, a dome with a cross finial, some of them as early as the late-16th or early-17th century, later ones made much in the same style through the 19th century
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © EmDee, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph taken in 2006 by EmDee [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gentinnes_-_Fonts_01.jpg] [accessed 3 April 2015]
Copyright Instructions: GFDL / CC-BY-SA-3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0

view of font

with the symbols of the four Evangelists in the spandrels of the basin top (the font cover is visible in the upper right corner)
Scene Description: with the symbols of the four Evangelists in the spandrels of the basin top (the font cover is visible in the upper right corner)
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: illustration in De Bruyn (1869-1870)
Copyright Instructions: PD

view of font

Font image
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: Ronse (1929: fig. 4)
Copyright Instructions: PD

INFORMATION

Font ID: 02836GEN
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Date: ca. 1155-1160?
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th century (mid?) [basin only] [composite font], Medieval [composite]
Workshop/Group/Artisan: Namur font / affiliation de Saint-Séverin-en-Condroz [Ghislain]
Cognate Fonts: [cf. FontNotes]
Church / Chapel Name: Église paroissiale Sainte-Gertrude
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Gertrude the Great [aka Gertrud die Große von Helfta, Gertrude of Helfta, Gertrudis] / St. Gertrude of Nivelles?
Church Notes: present church, other than the font, is 18th- and 19thC
Church Address: 1 de la rue du Pont d'Arcole, Gentinnes
Site Location: Brabant Wallon / Wallon Brabant, Wallonie / Wallonne, Belgium, Europe
Directions to Site: Located in the municipality of Chastre, between Bousval and Soye, not far from Namur.
Ecclesiastic Region: Archidiocèse de Malines-Bruxelles
Historical Region: Brabant
Additional Comments: altered font? (only the basin is original)
Font Notes:
Described and illustrated in De Bruyn (1869-1870): "Les fonts de Gentines offrent un trapézoïde pédiculé. Le socle en est carré, sans moulures de rachat; ils n'ont d'autre ornement que la portion de sphère, qui rachète les faces trapézoïdes inclinées de la cuve et les écoinçons des angles supérieurs. Deux des côtés du trapézoïde présentent une ornementation singulière: une tête bestiale retournée, emblême de victoire remportée sur l'ennemi du salut, donne naissance à deux rinceaux archaïques, que tiennent des personnages dont l'un semble porter une serpe et l'autre une bêche ou pique. Nous laissons à la subtilité de nos lecteurs le soin d'interpréter cette allégorie, faisant toutefois remarquer que le personnage armé de la pique porte le sagum ou saie rayée, vêtement gaulois et mérovingien. Les deux autres côtés du trapézoïde nous montrent également une tête bestiale retournée, de laquelle sortent des rinceaux à volutes, enlaçant des colombes. Les écoinçons supérieurs nous offrent les symboles des quatre évangélistes." Drake [cf. infra] describes it as: "beautiful despite the loss of the corner colonnettes. All four sides have masks and leaves but just two have human figures. On [...] one side [...] a man harvests the grapes -note the bunches already cut in a basket at his feet- [...on another basin side] a man prunes the vines on one side watched by a priest on the other [...] The spandrels of the upper surface have the Tetramorph [...] [BSI archive photograph and notes courtesy of C.S. Drake (letter of 3 November 1998 to BSI)]. Enlart (1902) dates it to the 11th-12th century. Cloquet (1890) identifies and illustrates the ornamentation on the upper basin surface spandrels as the four symbols of the Evangelists. Described and illustrated in Ronse (1929). Noted in Ghislain (1986) as one of a handful of the Mosan-namurois fonts [Bastogne, Gentinnes, et Hanzinne, Hour and Saint-Séverin en Condroz] without arcade ornamentation. This same author (ibid.) notes that it is one of a group of Mosan fonts [Achêne, Asselt, Bastogne, Gentinnes and Zonhoven] that include the motif of a feline head with branches of palmette and/or grape-vines stemming from its mouth. Illustrated in Barral i Altet (1989). Described and illustrated in Drake (2002). Catalogued and illustrated in Ghislain (2009) as the original basin of a baptismal font of the Namurois group, filiation de Saint-Séverin-en-Condroz, made of limestone (calcaire de Meuse) ca. 1155-1160, with remarks on the similarities to the fonts at Hanzinne, Merksem, Bouvignes, Evrehailles, etc. Pubben (2019) writes: "Aftercomparing the decorations on the baptismal font in Maastricht and Brussels with 50 fonts attributed to the Tournai School and 150 fonts attributed to the Mosan School, it became clearthat there were significant similarities between thisfont and four Mosan fonts: the ones in Saint-Séverin-en-Condroz, Hanzinne, Sclayn en Gentinnes. These five fonts can be seen as an exceptional category within the Mosan School, because of their lavishly decorated bowls and intricate and complex iconographies. That the font is probably part ofthe Mosan School corresponds with Ghislains conclusions and the results of the geological examinations done bythe KIK-IRPA in 1970." A short video [French language] highlighting the font is available at http://www.canalzoom.be/actu-ete-mercredi-25-juillet-2018/ [accessed 2 December 2022].
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Pol Herman for the link to the short video featuring the font

COORDINATES

Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 50.58136, 4.603002
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 50° 34′ 52.9″ N, 4° 36′ 10.81″ E

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, limestone (calcaire de Meuse)
Font Shape: square, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: square
Drainage System: centre hole in basin
Drainage Notes: lining insert
Diameter (inside rim): 69 cm**
Basin Depth: 17 cm**
Basin Total Height: 37 cm**
Font Height (less Plinth): 110 cm*
Trapezoidal Basin: 86 x 86 cm**
Notes on Measurements: * KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium) / ** Ghislain (2009: 137)

LID INFORMATION

Date: 17th century? / 19th century?
Material: metal, brass
Apparatus: no
Notes: the iron staples of the old cover still in the upper rim; the present font domed with a cross finial

REFERENCES

  • Barral i Altet, Xavier, Belgique romane, et Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, La Pierre-qui-vire, Yonne: Zodiaque, 1989, pl. 121, 122, 124
  • Borchgrave d'Altena, Joseph de, comte, Fonts baptismaux romans conservés au Chateau d'Emptinne, Bruxelles: [s.n.], 1971, ill. on p. [10?]
  • De Bruyn, Hyacinthe, abbé, Archéologie religieuse appliquée à nos monuments nationaux, Bruxelles: Victor Devaux et Cie., 1869-1870, vol. 2: 177-178
  • Drake, Colin Stuart, The Romanesque Fonts of Northern Europe and Scandinavia, Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2002, p. 42, 43, 44, 176 and pl. 85, 99
  • Enlart, Camille, Manuel d'archéologie française depuis les temps mérovingiens jusqu'à la Renaissance, Paris: Alphonse Picard & fils, 1902, p. 774 footnote 2
  • 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. 98, 99
  • Ghislain, Jean-Claude, Les fonts baptismaux romans en pierre bleue des ateliers du Namurois (ca. 1150-1175), Namur: Musée provincial des arts anciens du Namurois, 2009, catalogue entry no. 41, p. 137-140
  • Pubben, Sid, "De Fontibus Salvatoris: Over herkomst, gebruik en iconografievan een twaalfde-eeuws doopvontin Maastricht en Brussel", [e-version available], 2019, [multiple mentions]
  • Ronse, F. T., Les fonts baptismaux de Zedelghem et les fonts romans tournaisiens du XIIe siècle, Bruges: Apostolat liturgique, 1929, p. [9] and fig. 4