Guchen No. 1 / Gisen / Guishen / Gussen / Guxen / Guxenio / Guxennio

Listed, described and illustrated in Corbel (2000: p. 168) as one of the stoups in the parish church at Guchen and dated to the Middle Ages; probably made up with the help of a piece of column from elsewhere now being used as base. On-site notes: the basin looks like a capital: square top and sides coming to a round part at the bottom; only the front panel -with geometric motifs and the corners are ornamented; there are two heads at the front corners, and a female bust with "modern" breasts (rounded and protruding, as opposed to the usual flat and incised more commonly found in such medieval objects) and a ball motif at the back corners. The short pedestal base looks indeed like an adopted member, ornamented with a blind arcade at the top part. A plate on the wall behind this stoup dates the stoup to the 12th century and informs that it has been listed with Monuments historiques [Palissy ref.: IM65000996] as medieval. The same church has a lavabo ["lavabo en niche"] in the sacristy with a cherub on the basin front, which would make a beautiful stoup anywhere; it is listed in Palissy [ref.: IM65000988] as 17th-century. [cf. Index entry for Guchen No. 2 for a not too dissimilar stoup in the same church].