Verdun-sur-Garonne

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." Listed by Enlart (1902) among a group of 13th-century lead fonts, but his second reference in the same source lists a lead font in Verdun, dépt. de Tarn-et-Garonne, as 16th cent. Corblet (1881-1882) does not date it but describes it as being divided in three ornamented areas: the top and bottom registers have a row of fleur-de-lis motifs, while the middle one has "une sorte de fleur d'iris qu'encadre sa tige." The entry in the Dictionnaire des églises... (1966- ) describes it simply as a 13th-century lead-font. Lasteyrie (1926-1927) informs that M. le chanoine Pottier had published an article entitled "Les cuves baptismales en plomb au diocèse de Montauban" in the Bull. Soc. archéol., Tarn-et-Garonne, about this font and another one of the same type in Grenade-sur-Garonne [quoted in Lasteyrie (1926-1927). Those fonts are described by Lasteyrie (ibid.) as being narrower than most others of the type and having their sides ornamented with rosettes, fleur de lis, roundels, groups of more or less fantastic animals, all of it distributed over three registers separated by mouldings. The one at Verdun is described as having two handles, "une exception fort rare", which allow it to be easily transported and emptied. On-site notes: the cylindrical basin is ornamented with floral motifs and is now raised on a modern iron tripod base; at 90-degree angles of the basin handles there are marks of some repair or modification, probably related to the hinges for securing the lid (the handles appear to have been added at a later date). There is no visible drain, but there are two plugged holes on the lower sides of the basin (now sealed). The font is displayed inside the church under an ornate canopy. The font in use of this church is modern, with a brass cover, set inside an enclosed area designated as baptistery.