Becherel No. 1 / Béchérel

Results: 20 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

animal - mammal - bear or lion - head

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 June 2000 by BSI

animal - mammal - hare or rabbit

Scene Description: a rabbit or hare crouches at the upper border of the basin, face up

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 June 2000 by BSI

animal - mammal - lion - head

Scene Description: [?]

animal - mammal - simian - monkey - head

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 June 2000 by BSI

animal - reptile - lizard or salamander?

Scene Description: On the arris, facing down

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 June 2000 by BSI

animal - reptile - snake - head

Scene Description: Very eroded

animal - reptile - snake - head

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 June 2000 by BSI

cleric - bishop - head

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 June 2000 by BSI

design element - motifs - ball

Scene Description: A row of half-balls adorns the upper rim of the inside well

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 June 2000 by BSI

human figure - female - head

Scene Description: Long face and long hair, appears female

human figure - head

Scene Description: At the upper border of the basin

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 June 2000 by BSI

human figure - head

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 June 2000 by BSI

human figure - head - crowned

Scene Description: or is it a hat?

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 June 2000 by BSI

unidentified

Scene Description: Eroded arris had a carved animal, probably another reptile

view of church exterior - atrium or narthex

Scene Description: showing the two vessels now used as stoups

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 June 2000 by BSI

view of church exterior - west view

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 June 2000 by BSI

view of church interior - nave - looking east

Image Source: digital photograph taken 18 August 2007 by Alec [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bécherel_-_Notre_Dame_(interno).jpg][accessed 9 November 2013]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of font

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 June 2000 by BSI

view of font - upper view

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 June 2000 by BSI

view of font or stoup in context

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 June 2000 by BSI

INFORMATION

FontID: 03226BEC

Church/Chapel: Eglise paroissiale de Notre-Dame de Béchérel

Church Patron Saints: St. Mary the Virgin

Country Name: France

Location: Ille-et-Vilaine / Il-ha-Gwilen, Bretagne

Directions to Site: Located 25 kms NW of Rennes. There are several interesting fonts in that immediate area: la Baussaine, Les Iffs, Tinténiac, Hédé, etc.

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocèse Ille-et-Vilaine

Font Location in Church: In the narthex, left-hand side

Century and Period: 15th century, Late Medieval

Cognate Fonts: other fonts with heads in this region at: Corseul, Dinan, Erquy, Perros-Guirec, Pleur-Tuit and Saint-Malo.

Church Notes: church listed in Mérimée [ref.: IA00007892]: "Eglise priorale mentionnée au 12e siècle détruite, dépendait de l'abbaye de Marmoutiers. L'église actuelle conserve du 17e siècle le clocher-porche (jusqu'au milieu de la chambre des cloches). Elle a été reconstruite en 1866 (date par travaux historiques) sous la direction de Jacques Mellet. Flèche du clocher construite en 1898 (daté par source) sous la direction d'Arthur Regnault et de l'entrepreneur Bourdon. Un projet de reconstruction de l'église avait été réalisé en 1849 en style néo-roman par Viollet-le-Duc, ce projet avait été refusé, malgré la célébrité de son auteur, car il proposait, en outre, la suppression du clocher-porche."

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

The chalice-shaped stone font at Bécherel has a round basin with seven prominent human heads and one rabbit/hare around the upper part of the basin; the heads are assorted and all different, two of them crowned. The base is round at the top and square at the bottom; two of the arrises have reptiles carved on them. Listed in Palissy [ref.: IM35001212]: "Fonts baptismaux (?) servant de vasque [...] granite [...] Cuve circulaire sur socle évasé passant du plan carré au plan circulaire [...] représentation animalière (lapin, lézard) ; figure (tête : homme) ; ornementation (boule) [...] 15e siècle". Dated 15th-century also in the ISMH, as cited in Le patrimoine des communes d'Ille-et-Vilaine (2000). This font and its companion on the right hand side of the narthex serve now (June 2000) as holy-water stoups and decoration. Standing only 68 cm tall, there must be a missing part if this served as a baptismal font originally.

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 48.295077, -1.943586

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 48° 17′ 42.28″ N, 1° 56′ 36.91″ W

UTM: 30U 578353 5349637

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, granite

Number of Pieces: two

Font Shape: square-to-round (mounted) -- chalice-shaped

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: round

Drainage Notes: no lining

Rim Thickness: 9 cm*

Diameter (inside rim): 60 cm*

Diameter (includes rim): 77 cm* [95 cm* with the heads included]

Basin Depth: 25 cm*

Basin Total Height: 38 cm*

Height of Base: 30 cm*

Font Height (less Plinth): 68 cm* / 70 cm**

Square Base Dimensions: 62 x 62 cm*

Notes on Measurements: * BSI on-site. [NB: if this was a baptismal font it must have lost the upper part of the base, a block of some 30-40 cm] / ** [Palissy [ref.: IM35001212]]

REFERENCES

Le Patrimoine des communes d'Ille-et-Vilaine, Charenton: FLOHIC, 2000

Malle, Louis, Sources du baptême: découvrir les baptistères et les fonts baptismaux, Paris: Éditions de l'atelier, 1994