Eoux

Described in the Dictionnaire des églises.. (1966- ) as a beautiful Gothic baptismal font of the 16th century; it is ornamented with floral motif, check pattern, 'labarum', quadrupeds, etc. On-site notes: the somewhat irregular octagonal basin has vertical sides ornamented with a remarkable collection of motifs, more interesting for their variety then for the quality of the execution for, whereas some of the motifs are beautifullty rendered (e.g., the palmette, the leaf, the six-petal flower in a circle), others (e.g, the four-legged animal, a lion?, which looks like a cross between a caricature of Mickey Mouse and a starving hyena) are so clumsily carved as if to suggest that a different hand altogether took part in the work. The order of the motifs on the basin sides is as follows: 1)blind arcade of crossing arches; 2)"chrismon-like" symbol has a cross in a circle; the top of the cross has an arrowhead at its left; the bottom has the $ sign on it; the right arm of the cross has an arrow pointing down; the left arm has a semicircle on it; 3)leaf, palmette and quadruped (lion?); 4)a sun-like motif at the top and diagonal bars are shown inside shiel-like frames, top and bottom, the latter inverted, while the right and left are occupied by concentric circles; 5)six-petal leaf, very well rendered, in a circle; 6)four vertical strings of looped pattern; 7)chequered pattern all over the panel; 8)divided into two vertical compartments, with a foliage motif in each; the upper rim has one metal staple left from the old cover hardware, and the damage on the opposite of the rim probably indicates another such taken out, which resulted in the damage. The pedestal of the base is octagonal and ends in a square lower base and flat square plinth, all plain. There are repair marks on the 8th side of the basin and a thin-line crack along the 2-3-4 sides; a dark cement (?), probably recent, has been used to secure the basin onto the base. There appear to be the remains of a partition on the inside of the basin well on its inner sides; this could have been added to the original basin -as was the case in many baptismal fonts throughout France- and later still removed for the very reason for which it was added, i.e., a passing fad in the practice of baptism. Mesplé (1970: 136-137 and figs. 7-9) dates it to the first quarter of the 14th century and dwells on the carry-over symbolism from the Romanesque art into this Gothic example. [NB: our sincere gratitude to Mme. la Mairesse of Eoux, who so kindly went out of her way to facilitate our access to the church and showed a genuine interest in the upkeep of the church and its treasures].