Salle-les-Alpes No. 2

One of two holy-water stoups [cf. Salle-les-Alpes No. 2] of rare design: they are around two of the columns which support the portal, or "réal" as they were known locally. They look much like other hemispherical mounted fonts/stoups, but the base continues through the basin well up to its end at the arches of the portal. (Therion, 1980, p. 422-424 and ill. 136) [cf. Index entry for a similar stoup-cum-pillar at Santa Cruz de la Seros, Huesca, Spain]. On-site notes: one of two holy-water stoups built into the supporting pillars of the porch, this one on the left side of the central pillar, itself a stylophore lion similar to the ones found at nearby St-Veran. This one lacks the ornamentation of its pair and has a reinforcing iron belt around the upper riml. The base consists of a cylindrical pedestal and a round lower base ornamented with mouldings. The basin block of stone includes the round piece on which the column of the portal rests. Therion's argument about the two "gender" doors (male vs. female) matches the existence of these two separate stoups. Gattefossé (1970: unpaged) states that, in 1469, after the death of Gonnet-Queyras, a resident of Bez, a commune of La Salle, a legacy in his name was left for the construction of the Notre-Dame chapel in this church, and that a master Mathieu Guras, a builder from Coni in the Piedmont, was engaged for the works; these lasted four years and costed "220 florins, 30 sétiers de seigle, deux de fèves, 4 quintaux de fromage et 4 quintaux de viandes", as well as the supply of "chaux, du sable, des pierres, des poutres, des cordes, une massue, des coins de fer, des manoeuvres et une maison d'habitation" (ibid). It is believed that this northern Italian master was responsible as well for the porch and the stoups that occupy us. [NB: our gratitude to the friendly M. l'abbé Eugene Grossan at La Salle-les-Alpes for his help and all the information he shared with us; special thanks for the trip to the presbitery attic to document the old font cover]