Pont-a-Mousson / Pont-à-Mousson

[NB: unresolved problems with this and the font at Château de Mousson [now totally destroyed]: there may have been some data which has transferred from one to other -- to be resolved on site]. The font here is mentioned in Napoléon Henry's Histoire de Pont-à-Mousson et des environs (1839: 122), who quotes popular opinion of the font being "contemporains de Constantin le Grand". Noted by De Caumont in his Coup-d'œil sur le Congrés archéologique tenu par la Société française à Metz et à Trêves en 1846 (1846: 346) with a reference to its illustration by Grille de Beuzelin; De Caumont dates the font to the 12th century. In his description of the font at Orgibet [cf. Index entry] Richard (1874) notes the clean-shaven Christ appears thus also on this font, and in a later article he finds the same lack of facial hair in the representation of the Christ on the Samer font. Ruprich-Robert (1855) mentions a noteworthy font here, without further details. Corblet (1881-1882) describes this as being a Romanesque tetralobed basin ornamented with several scenes of baptism: 1)a haloed John the Baptist preaches the baptism of penance to publicans and soldiers who come to visit him in the desert; 2)John baptises two Jews in a vat adorned with several circles [i.e., mouldings] while two other persons, covered with a cloth, wait their turn; 3)John baptises Christ in the river Jordan with the usual representation of the water piling up to Christ's waist, an angel holding his clothes and another holding a censer; 4)a bishop with a cross and wearing a mitre, but not haloed, accompanied by a cleric, baptises two children in a round font under the image of an angel (translation and paraphrase of Corblet's description. Cloquet (1890) describes the font as being "quant à leur forme, une exception qui confirme la règle [...] en forme de margelle de puits"[=well head] and its ornamentation as depicting "le Précurseur et des scènes de baptême". Bond (1908: 123 and ill. on p. 118) describes simply a bas-relief in which "a bishop is shewn baptizing two children; the font is plainly a wooden cask or barrel" (Bond cites "M. Saintenoy" as source [Bond's reference is probably to Paul Saintenoy's "Étude..." of 1891] - in any case the reference is to a bas-relief depicting a baptism scene; nowhere does it say that the bas-relief is on a baptismal font). A set of Camille Enlart B&W photographs [cf. ImagesArea] are reproduced in Cartes de France [https://www.cartes-2-france.com/villes/54390-mousson.php] [accessed 7 April 2022]. Noted and illustrated in P.W.J. v. d. Berg's Ouder doopvonten en hun gebruik, in the Nieuwe Drentsche Volksalmanak, 56e Jaar (1938) [doopvonten en hun gebruik.pdf] [accessed 7 April 2022]. Palissy [ref.: PM54001790] lists a baptismal font and lower base of white marble of the 18th-19th century in this church.