Cerisy-Buleux / Buleux / Cérisy-Buleux / Cherisy / Serisy

Darsy (1858) reports: "Dans le bas de l église se trouvent des fonts baptismaux très-anciens, pour le baptême par immersion. La cuve monolithe, arrondie en dedans et en dehors, est encadrée dans une table quadrangulaire, que supportent des colonnes placées deux à deux sur chaque face. Ce monument a un mètre de long, 0,72 de large et autant de haut. Il nous a paru presque semblable à celui de Saint Nicolas d'Amiens, qu'on voit au Musée de la Société des Antiquaires de Picardie, no. 102." There are a couple of descriptive errors in Darsy's relation: the inner shape of basin is octagonal at the top, and the angle colonnettes are grouped in threes, but otherwise it is not very dissimilar from several other fonts of the area. Noted in Joanne (1872) as a remarkable baptismal font of the Romanesque period in this church. Mentioned by Cloquet (1890) as part of a group of square mounted fonts. Catalogued in Palissy [ref.: PM80000428] [ww.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/palsri_fr] [accessed 2 July 2012] as a stone baptismal font of the 13th century, previously dated to the 12th century in Monuments historiques, 1993 [= "13e siècle. Oeuvre anciennement datée du 12e siècle"]. Illustrated in the context of the church interior in an old B&W negative by Philippe Des Forts in Mémoire [ref.: APDSF3216] [www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/memoire_fr] [accessed 2 July 2012]. The baptismal font appears rectangular on the outside, the inner well having chamfered corners that make it octagonal; on the outside the upper sides are moulded, and the angles are formed by clusters of three colonnettes with leaf capitals and moulded bases; the plain round basin appears plain and reaches down to the lower base level, a chamfered block that appears modern. The design of this font includes a rounded basin in a quadrangular frame formed by four angle colonnettes, with some varians, like the other medieval fonts in the Somme at Bergicourt, Cerisy-Buleux, Faverolles, Fourcigny, Gentelles, Neuville-les-Loeuilly, Rouvrel, Wiry au Mont, etc.