Merida No. 1 / Emerita Augusta / Mérida

Described in Mélida (1925, vol. 2: 38) as a rare and noteworthy piece ["pieza muy rara y estimable"] in his catalogue of objects from the Roman and Visigothic period, although he does not give a date or period for this specific item; stone baptismal font (?) in the shape of a truncated pyramidal prism, inverted, and raised on four square shafts; the upper rim surface is decorated with a continuous tendril between two thin parallel mouldings; the other decoration appears on three of the upper basin sides: one has a reticulated 'x-in-a-square' pattern, while two others have a narrow double scotia between three flat mouldings; the fourth side is plain and bears the Museum's inventory mark in red ink. Catalogued and illustrated in Cruz Villalón (1985: 99 and pl. 195), where the material is identified as white marble and the original location as "Corralón de Pacheco, frente al Matadero Municipal" [=Pacheco's cattlepen/corral, opposite the municipal abattoir]. This same source mentions a central drain though it does not identify the object as a baptismal font, but simply as a "pila" [NB: the Spanish term 'pila' could refer to an ablutions basin, a fountain, a holy-water stoup, a laundry basin, etc., as well as to a baptismal font]. Arbeiter (2003) notes and illustrates this object as one of the early specimens of baptismal font that replace the earlier piscinae although, as Arbeiter points out, some co-exist for a while [NB: Arbeiter (ibid.) mentions also the "catedralicia de San Vicente de Córdoba" in the same group]