Gentelles / Gentela / Gentèle / Gentella, Gentilla / Gentilles / Gintelle / Le Gendalle

Noted in Roger [et al.] (1844) as an ancient ["assez ancienne"] square font raised on angle columns with capitals. Noted and illustrated in Enlart (1895). Listed by Enlart (1902) among a group of 12th century (?) rectangular fonts with supporting colonnettes at the angles in the Somme. Lasteyrie (1929), who puts this font and the one at Fouencamps as rather simplistic imitations of the Tournai fonts, mentions the three-colonnette groupings at the angles. The colonnettes at the angles have leaf capitals and moulded bases. Unlike the basin of the font at Equennes, this one is plain. Catalogued in Palissy [ref.: PM80000700] [www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/palsri_fr] [accessed 1 July 2012] with date in the 12th century. Described and illustrated in www.richesses-en-somme.com/patrimoine-des-églises/fonts-baptismaux/ [accessed 1 July 2012]: the old font survived the destruction of the church in WWI (1914-1918) and was re-cycled as base of the altar in the re-construction of 1920 [="Eglise St Martin ayant été détruite en 14/18 a été reconstruite en 1920. Les fonts baptismaux sont devenus la base du nouvel autel"]. The design of this font includes a rounded basin in a quadrangular frame formed by four angle colonnettes, with some varians, like the other medieval fonts in the Somme at Bergicourt, Cerisy-Buleux, Faverolles, Fourcigny, Neuville-les-Loeuilly, Rouvrel, Wiry au Mont, etc. In this case the outer columns are clustered in threes at the abgles; the capitals are decorated with large-leaf motifs and a roll moulding; the bases consist of a eries of graded mouldings.