Provins No. 2

Listed in Palissy [ref.: PM77001393] as a holy-water stoup of the 16th century. An interesting stoup the identity of which has been the object of some conjecture and disagreement; it is cylindrical and rather narrow; the upper 2/3, the basin, have four registers of ornamentation: 1)at the rim, a narrow band with a series of small frames containing varied motifs such as heads, animals, symbols, etc.; 2)a broad band of striated pattern, like forward slashes, grouped in between diagonal rope mouldings; 3)a narrow band, apparently blank; 4)a broad band of diagonal flutted pattern, in the opposite direction of the one in 2 above. The lower 1/3 of the object is also cylindrical, though a little narrower, and ornamented with two arcades of round arches. Lasteyrie (1926-1927) states that this is a holy-water stoup -and not a baptismal font as others have generally claimed- and that the dating previously attributed to it (15th-16th century) should be reconsidered; he favours a date in the reign of king Philip II Augustus, i.e., 1180-1223. Lasteyrie (ibid.) also claims that this object comes from a church [un-named] destroyed during the Revolution. Two later (18th-century) stoups in this church are also listed in Palissy [ref.: PM77001405].