Paris No. 4 / Lutetia Parisiorum

Esquié (1880) mentions a baptismal font of the Renaissance period that was used as a decorative object in the reconstruction of the castle at Gaillon in Paris [="ceux qui décorent en ce moment l'un des fragments du château de Gaillon réédifié dans la cour de l'école des Beaux-arts à Paris"]. Listed by Enlart (1902) as a Renaissance octagonal font in the École des Beaux-Arts. Corblet (1881-1882) describes it as a Renaissance font, "en sorte de liais", ornamenting one of the fragments of the château de Gaillon. He adds that "les ornementations trahissent une époque sensualiste qui étalait ses nudités mythologiques jusque dans le sanctuaire", appearing thus to indicate that the font has such ornamentation. The font was reported in Tables de travail: Séminaire de recherche sur la conservation-restauration (19 March 2014) [http://tablesdetravail.hypotheses.org/840] [accessed 27 March 2016] as being in the process of restauration at the ENSBA (École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris) "sous la direction de Marie-Emmanuelle Meyohas, chantier-école du cursus Conservation-restauration des œuvres sculptées, Tours, du 24 au 28 mars et du 7 au 11 avril 2014. Vestige du Musée des monuments français d’Alexandre Lenoir, qui prit place notamment dans la Chapelle des Petits-Augustins après la dissolution de ce couvent lors de la Révolution, et avant la construction de l’Ecole centrale des Arts au XIXe siècle, aujourd’hui Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris, la cuve baptismale de Saint-Victor, datée de 1541, est un exemple majeur de la sculpture de la Renaissance française." The font consists of a roughly oval basin decorated with putti, cartouches, floral and foliage motifs all around; the pedestal base, of the same shape but narrower than the basin, has on one of the broad sides a scene of the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan framed in two quadrangular panels: on the left the angel, on the right John the Baptist pours water over Christ's head; on the other broad side of the pedestal base are angels and/or putti in the panels; one of the narrower sides of the base has a busy composition of figures, frames, chains, masks, etc., around a cartouche with the inscription "154Z" [NB: the Z probably a 2 rather than a 1?]. The other narrow side has also a busy decoration of fruit, garlands, etc., around a cartouche [inscription?]. The inner well of the much-damaged basin appears to be undivided, and it is also roughly oval in shape, like its exterior. The lower base is roughly oval shape and decorated with buttresses.