Boston Museum of Fine Arts

Results: 17 records

B01: New Testament - Passion of Christ - Crucifixion - Mary - John the Evangelist

Scene Description: a/p identification in Netzer, 1991, p. 135 -- The MFA's own web site has a fully detailed and illustrated listing [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/64996/baptismal-font;jsessionid=87D1907B2A80DEF7BCFF1CA1111BFB35] [accessed 29 September 2022].

B02: Apostle or saint - Apostles - St. Matthew

Scene Description: a/p identification in Netzer, 1991, p. 135 -- The MFA's own web site has a fully detailed and illustrated listing [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/64996/baptismal-font;jsessionid=87D1907B2A80DEF7BCFF1CA1111BFB35] [accessed 29 September 2022].

B03: Apostle or saint - Apostles - St. John

Scene Description: a/p identification in Netzer, 1991, p. 135 -- The MFA's own web site has a fully detailed and illustrated listing [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/64996/baptismal-font;jsessionid=87D1907B2A80DEF7BCFF1CA1111BFB35] [accessed 29 September 2022].

B04: Apostle or saint - Apostles - St. Simon

Scene Description: a/p identification in Netzer, 1991, p. 135 -- The MFA's own web site has a fully detailed and illustrated listing [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/64996/baptismal-font;jsessionid=87D1907B2A80DEF7BCFF1CA1111BFB35] [accessed 29 September 2022].

B05: Apostle or saint - Apostles - St. Philip

Scene Description: a/p identification in Netzer, 1991, p. 135 -- The MFA's own web site has a fully detailed and illustrated listing [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/64996/baptismal-font;jsessionid=87D1907B2A80DEF7BCFF1CA1111BFB35] [accessed 29 September 2022].

B06: Apostle or saint - Apostles - St. Luke

Scene Description: a/p identification in Netzer, 1991, p. 135 -- The MFA's own web site has a fully detailed and illustrated listing [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/64996/baptismal-font;jsessionid=87D1907B2A80DEF7BCFF1CA1111BFB35] [accessed 29 September 2022].

B07: Apostle or saint - Apostles - St. Judas Thaddeus

Scene Description: a/p identification in Netzer, 1991, p. 135 -- The MFA's own web site has a fully detailed and illustrated listing [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/64996/baptismal-font;jsessionid=87D1907B2A80DEF7BCFF1CA1111BFB35] [accessed 29 September 2022].

B08: Apostle or saint - Apostles - St. Andrew

Scene Description: a/p identification in Netzer, 1991, p. 135 -- The MFA's own web site has a fully detailed and illustrated listing [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/64996/baptismal-font;jsessionid=87D1907B2A80DEF7BCFF1CA1111BFB35] [accessed 29 September 2022].

B09: Apostle or saint - Apostles - St. James the Less

Scene Description: a/p identification in Netzer, 1991, p. 135 -- The MFA's own web site has a fully detailed and illustrated listing [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/64996/baptismal-font;jsessionid=87D1907B2A80DEF7BCFF1CA1111BFB35] [accessed 29 September 2022].

B10: Apostle or saint - Apostles - St. Thomas

Scene Description: a/p identification in Netzer, 1991, p. 135 -- The MFA's own web site has a fully detailed and illustrated listing [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/64996/baptismal-font;jsessionid=87D1907B2A80DEF7BCFF1CA1111BFB35] [accessed 29 September 2022].

B11: Apostle or saint - Apostles - St. Matthias

Scene Description: a/p identification in Netzer, 1991, p. 135 -- The MFA's own web site has a fully detailed and illustrated listing [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/64996/baptismal-font;jsessionid=87D1907B2A80DEF7BCFF1CA1111BFB35] [accessed 29 September 2022].

B12: Apostle or saint - Apostles - St. Bartholomew

Scene Description: a/p identification in Netzer, 1991, p. 135 -- The MFA's own web site has a fully detailed and illustrated listing [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/64996/baptismal-font;jsessionid=87D1907B2A80DEF7BCFF1CA1111BFB35] [accessed 29 September 2022].

B13: Apostle or saint - Apostles - St. James the Great

Scene Description: a/p identification in Netzer, 1991, p. 135 -- The MFA's own web site has a fully detailed and illustrated listing [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/64996/baptismal-font;jsessionid=87D1907B2A80DEF7BCFF1CA1111BFB35] [accessed 29 September 2022].

B14: Apostle or saint - Apostles - St. Peter

Scene Description: a/p identification in Netzer, 1991, p. 135 -- The MFA's own web site has a fully detailed and illustrated listing [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/64996/baptismal-font;jsessionid=87D1907B2A80DEF7BCFF1CA1111BFB35] [accessed 29 September 2022].

BBU01: human figure - head - 2

Scene Description: Protruding at opposite sides from the upper rim -- The MFA's own web site has a fully detailed and illustrated listing [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/64996/baptismal-font;jsessionid=87D1907B2A80DEF7BCFF1CA1111BFB35] [accessed 29 September 2022].

LBF01: angel - holding shield - coat of arms - 4

Scene Description: "That they [i.e., the coats of arms] cannot be traced in standard sources suggests burgher arms rather than those of nobility." (Netzer, 1991, p. 139, footnote 4) -- The MFA's own web site has a fully detailed and illustrated listing [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/64996/baptismal-font;jsessionid=87D1907B2A80DEF7BCFF1CA1111BFB35] [accessed 29 September 2022].

view of font

Scene Description: Source caption: "Baptismal font. By Goteke Klinghe (German (Bremen), active in the late 15th century). 1483 " -- The MFA's own web site has a fully detailed and illustrated listing [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/64996/baptismal-font;jsessionid=87D1907B2A80DEF7BCFF1CA1111BFB35] [accessed 29 September 2022].

INFORMATION

FontID: 03444BOS
Museum and Inventory Number: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
Church/Chapel: [NB: provenance does not include a church name]
Church Location: [NB: address & coordinates given for the museum] 465 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, United States -- Tel.: +1 617-267-9300
Country Name: United States
Location: Massachussets
Directions to Site: The museum is located just W of the Northeastern University campus
Font Location in Church: [in a museum]
Date: 1483
Century and Period: 15th century (late), Gothic
Workshop/Group/Artisan: Goteke Klinghe
[NB: all the available information about this font is from the Museum of Fine Arts' medieval metalwork catalogue (Netzer, 1991)] The bucket-shaped basin rests on four standing figures (angels) and has two small heads at the basin's upper rim, which may have served as hinges for the lock of the cover [reported as missing in the Catalogue]; an inscription (cf. inscription notes, etc.) runs around the upper part of the basin side; there is another another inscription (idem) around the lower part of the basin side; the main area between the two inscriptions has an arcade of fourteen High Gothic arches with 1)the Crucifixion with John and Mary present, followed by thirteen figures of the Apostles: 2)Mathew; 3)John; 4)Simon; 5)Philip; 6)Luke; 7)Judas; 8) Andrew; 9)James the Less; 10)Thomas; 11)Mathias; 12)Bartholomew; 13)James the Great; and 14)Peter, each with their identifying symbol(s) although, as the Catalogue points out, not all of them portrayed accurately (ibid, p. 135 and 139). The underbowl has a rosette in the centre and two bands of acanthus motif. The four angels of the base hold shields with distinguishable coats of arms (cf. Netzer, 1991, p. 137 for armorial details). According to the Catalogue, the maker, Goteke Klinge, was "the youngest member of the family of bronze founders active in Bremen throughout the fifteenth century and into the sixteenth [...] renowned makers of bells and fonts, most of which are preserved in churches in Saxony, Schleswig, Scandinavia, and areas around the Baltic." (ibid, p. 137, 139). Provenance starts at the end of the turn of the 17th-18th century with the duke of Marlborough (ibid., p. 135) and there is no indication as to the original church for which the font was cast. The MFA's own web site has a fully detailed and illustrated listing [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/64996/baptismal-font;jsessionid=87D1907B2A80DEF7BCFF1CA1111BFB35] [accessed 29 September 2022].

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 42.339444, -71.094167
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 42° 20′ 22″ N, 71° 5′ 39″ W
UTM: 19T 327487 4689589

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: metal, bronze
Font Shape: bucket-shaped (mounted)
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round
Diameter (inside rim): 94.8 cm*
Diameter (includes rim): 101.2 cm*
Font Height (less Plinth): 100.4 cm
Notes on Measurements: All measurements from Netzer, 1991, p. 135. *the "DIAM." was taken as inside diameter of the upper and the "W." as outside diameter of the upper basin, but this may not be correct

INSCRIPTION

Inscription Language: Old Saxon dialect - Latin
Inscription Notes: Translation of both rim inscriptions: "Goteke klinghe has cast me/ God give good counsel to his soul/ Saint Anne, Saint Catherine, Saint Dorothea, Saint Margaret, Saint Gertrude/ Made in the year 1483"
Inscription Location: 3 places: both lower and upper rims of the basin and above the figures themselves
Inscription Text: Upper rim: "[GOTE]KE KLINGHE DE MI GEGOTEN HAD GOT GEU [E SYNER SELEN] RAT S ANNA S KATRINA S DORATEA S MARGRET S GARDRUD HEL[P]" On figures: "S.MAREIA--S.IOHANS--S.MATTHEVS--S.IOHANNES--S.SIMON--S.FILIPPVS--S.LUKAS--S.IVDAS--S.ANDREAS--S.IACOBVS D.K.--S.THOMAS--S.MATTHIAS--S.BARTHOLOMEVS--S.IACOBV D.G.--S.PETRVS" Lower rim: "ANNO DNI MCCCCLXXXIII AN MIICHAL MEN DEN LOUR"
Inscription Source: All inscriptions and the translations a/p Netzer, 1991, p.135-139

LID INFORMATION

Notes: "A wood cover that would have been attached to the busts is missing" (Netzer, 1991, p. 137)

REFERENCES

Netzer, Nancy, Metalwork: Catalogue of Medieval Objects [in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston], Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1991