Taillet / Tellet

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, among which he notes the one at Taillet, as decorated with "cinq figurines grossières". Described in the Dictionnaire des églises... (1966-) as a baptismal font ornamented with five crudely rendered human figures. Listed in Palissy [ref.: PM66000886]: "fonts baptismaux [...] marbre [...] Cuve demi-sphérique. Autour du cadenas sont sculptés cinq figures. Celles du haut ont des oreilles et sont en hauteur. Deux autres sont dessous, mais en largeur et portent un bandeau ceignant le front. Celle qui forme la pointe est en hauteur ; elle ouvre la bouche et on y voit des dents extrêmement saillantes. La cuve est de grandes dimensions [...] 12e siècle." Described in Buron (1980: 356) as a Romanesque baptismal font ornamented with crudely carved figures. Described and illustrated in Catalunya romànica (1984- , vol. XIV: 413), where it is dated to the 12th century. The ornamentation consists of five heads all grouped around the lock of the cover: the upper side of this group, left and right of the lock, are two feline heads, probably lions; below them, laid in a horizontal position with the top of the head to the outside and the chin to the inside, two human heads, beard-less; closing the circle at the bottom is another human head, this one appears bearded. The source [cf. supra] suggests that another motif occupied the spot where the metal lock now is ["hi devia haver un motiu central també en relleu que no s'ha conservat"], although it may just as well been blank from the origin. The thin round stem of the base is probably not the original. The plain wooden cover appears relatively modern.