Elne No. 2 / Elna

In his Notes sur l'art réligieux du Roussillon 2e partie: l'ornementation (Bulletin archéologique du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques, vol. 11, 1893: 361-362), Brutails mentions a number of ancient fonts and stoups; among the latter, he writes: "Elne garde un beau bénitier en marbre blanc dont le réservoir, à larges cannelures en spirales, est creusé dans un cylindre enveloppé d'une large feuille d'acanthe. On a prétendu que ce bénitier datait du XIIIe siècle; je crois bien plutôt que c'est un débris de l'antique Illiberis." Brutails' entry (ibid.) is footnoted "Dessin dans le Voyage pittoresque de Taylor ", to the 24-volume monumental work 'Voyages pittoresques et romantiques dans l'ancienne France' published between 1820 and 1878 and printed by Firmin Didot; 'Taylor' [i.e., Isidore Justin Séverin Taylor, aka baron Taylor], was co-editor of the work with Charles Nodier [NB: Languedoc is spread over four volumes: 1833, 1834, 1835 and 1837]. The entry for holy-water stoups in Guenebault's Dictionnaire iconographique des monuments de l'antiquité chrétienne et du Moyen Age (Paris, 1843), vol. 1, p. 151, mentions that the 'Voyages pittoresques [...]' illustrates "Autre sculpture de style antique, provenant de l'église d'Elne ou de son cloitre". Listed in Enlart (1902) as a Roman capital recycled for use later as holy-water stoup; later in the same source Enlart describes the inside of the well of the stoup as being ornamented with "cannelures en spirale". Delcor (1973) describes it also as a re-cycled Roman object and being ornamented with a vine of elegant foliage. The Dictionnaire des églises... (1966-) describes it as a large stoup, probably from the 6th century; the inside of the basin well has deep concave ribbing pattern, whereas the exterior is ornamented with a large acanthus leave tied with a round ribbon. Lasteyrie (1929) describes it as a holy-water stoup in white marble, which appears to have been made from the drum of a narrow column; the quality of the carving has suggested to many, Lasteyrie included, that this is a classical work recycled for later use as a stoup (Ibid.). Described and illustrated in Catalunya romànica (1984- , vol. XIV: 214) where it is dated to the 1st century A.D. Listed in Palissy [ref.: PM66000305] with date in the 1st century, but adds "Anciennement datée du 6e siècle. Serait plutôt à dater du 4e siècle." On-site notes: the cylindrical basin now used as a holy-water stoup at the north side of the nave is indeed a magnificent object: a drum-shaped block of marble with a beautifully textured single-leaf decoration covering all the basin sides. What it was originally is, as in the case of the equally striking baptismal font at Perpignan, difficult to ascertain; a round capital? a part of a column? Whatever it was, the carving of the inside well is another tour-de-force: nine deep vertical concave flutes start at a level slightly recessed from the upper rim of the stoup and end at the drain hole at the centre of the bottom of the inner well of the basin [NB: was this re-carved in the 11thC as a font? if not, why the drain?]. It stands now on a modern polygonal base which is somewhat at odds with itself. No cover present.