Saint-Bonnet-de-Four / Sancti Bonniti de Furnis

Listed in Le Patrimoine des communes de l'Allier (1999) as a holy-water stoup of a date earlier than the 12th century. The capitals which make up the base (four of them set us table-legs for a rectangular slab on which the basin rests) are said to be from a chapel located in a place called Four. The basin itself is an oval container, tub-like, made of granite [cf. the "oil-fonts" of the Val d'Aran listed in this Index]. The entry in Palissy [ref.: PM03000434], however, has it as a baptismal font of the 12th century: " fonts baptismaux [...] Placée sur quatre chapiteaux romans [...] 12e siècle". The entry for Saint-Bonnet-de-Four in Traces d'Ancêtres en Bourbonnais [http://genealogie.aufauvre.pagesperso-orange.fr/lieux_communes/lieu_saint_bonnet_de_four.htm] [accessed 3 February 2014] refers to the changing function of this object, from baptismal font to holy-water stoup: "L'ouvrage fait office de bénitier mais au regard de sa taille imposante, a pu primitivement faire office de fonds [sic] batismaux."