Bourbon-l'Archambault

Reported in an oral presentation by Georges de Soultrait to the 21st session of the 1854 Congrès archéologique de France, as one of several stone fonts of the late-15th or early-16th century in the Allier, this one with an inscription in Gothic lettering recording the donor of the font. Described and illustrated in Le Patrimoine des comunes de l'Allier (1999). Double-font of very uneven parts: the main font is a large octagonal basin mounted on a broad cylindrical stem and raised on a short octagonal lower base; the underbowl is adorned with floral motif and there is an inscription informing that the donor was a priest at Bourbon; the stem of the base is covered in a scallop pattern with four head-down dolphins vertically positioned on the base sides; the additional or secondary font is, by comparison, very small in volume, slightly shorter than the main one and very slender, but it does have the same topical ornamentation and is attached to the main one at the basin and lower base through a rectangular piece. Listed in Palissy [ref.: PM03000036]: "Fonts baptismaux de forme octogonale ornés de feuillages sculptés et d'écailles sur la cuve et à la base de quatre têtes de dauphins [...] 1er quart 16e siècle".