Nogent-l'Artaud

Richard's guide of 1866 reports a 12th-century baptismal font in this church. Illustrated in Enlart (1902): a font somewhat related in shape to those of Bodmin and Roche in England, with a round basin [the Cornish fonts have a hemispherical basin instead] whose sides are ornamented with foliage all around, as well as at least one demi-figure and what may be either floral motifs or damaged cherub heads; at the upper part it becomes octagonal and, at the very top it is square, with the shape given by the four colonnettes which support the basin together with the much larger cylindrical central column; the capitals of the colonnettes have foliage ornamentation as well. Lasteyrie (1927-1927), after Enlart, describes it simply as "assez belle". It is a style of font found in France in the early Gothic period [cf. other such fonts at Ver, Chartres cathedral and Rousseloy]. Listed in Palissy [ref.: PM02000862] as "2e moitié 13e siècle".