Bures-en-Bray

Described in the Dictionnaire des églises... (1966- ) as being a font [date?] on which has been placed, as cover, an old wooden tabernacle of the 15th century(?), painted and sculpted [NB: it is not clear from the source whether the font, the cover or both are from the 15th century]. Amn entry in Palissy [ref.: PM76000349] identifies the font cover, "Couvrement des fonts baptismaux", as a former 15th/16th century tabernacle that had been re-purposed as a font cover; the Palissy entry further notes that the object was destroyed on 20 June 1944: "Le couvercle des fonts baptismaux de l'église paroissiale de Bures-en-Bray a été détruit le 20 juin 1944 (d'après une note du 10 mars 1944)." Mémoire [ref.: AP76W03503] shows an undated B&W photograph of the object whem it was used as font cover. A similar photograph, unfortunately also undated, appears in the Archives Eure [https://archives.eure.fr/ark:/26335/a011522753753IBVBl9] [accessed 25 April 2025]: the item coded 36 Fi 11765 is described as a "Plaque de verre gélatino-bromure d'argent négative, from a date range "1900-1961", having deterioted "Dégradation biologique ou chimique de l'émulsion"; the blurry image is quite close to that accessible in Mémoire [cf. supra]. The entry for this church in La Sauvegarde de l’Art français [https://www.sauvegardeartfrancais.fr/projets/bures-en-bray-eglise-saint-etienne-saint-aignan/] [accessed 25 April 2025] provides information on the restoration of the baptismal font and about the original function of the later font cover: "Les fonts baptismaux ont été restaurés au milieu du XIXe s. : la cuve a alors été surmontée d’une pyramide qui provient d’un ancien tabernacle."