Saint-Michel-des-Tourettes nr. Apt

Results: 1 records

INFORMATION

Font ID: 04889MIC
Object Type: Stoup
Font Century and Period/Style: 6th century, Gallo-Roman
Museum: Musée Calvet, Avignon
Church / Chapel Name: [former church, now [1977] "maison d'habitation"]
Font Location in Church: now in a museum
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Michael?
Church Address: [NB: address & coordinates given for the museum] 65 Rue Joseph Vernet, 84000 Avignon, France -- Tel.: +33 4 90 86 33 84
Site Location: Vaucluse, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, Europe
Directions to Site: The Musée Calvet, Avignon, is located on rue Joseph-Vernet, near rue de la République, on the E bank of the river
Additional Comments: stoup precursor: a vessel used at the entrance of the primitive church for ablutions, later developed into the holy-water stoup
Font Notes:
Described in Barruol (1977: 80) as a front half of a very curious "vasque" made of Carrara marble, now [1977] located in the Musée Calvet in Avignon; the main side is reported ornamented with a chrismon with the letters alpha and omega which were originally covered in bronze (the source reports the presence of holes to secure the metal cover); it is framed on the sides in a Greek inscription ["niphamenos proseukhou"= pray after you clean yourself]. Barruol argues that this "vasque" would have been placed at the entrance of the church for the symbolic rite of the ablutions of face and hands practiced in the primitive church, of which -he adds- the holy-water stoups of our modern churchs are but a perpetual souvenir (Ibid.)

COORDINATES

UTM: 31T 644755 4867579
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 43.9471, 4.8039
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 43° 56′ 49.56″ N, 4° 48′ 14.04″ E

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, marble (Carrara)
Number of Pieces: one [fragment]
Font Shape: rectangular, unmounted
Basin Interior Shape: rectangular
Basin Exterior Shape: rectangular
Height of Basin Side: 28 cm*
Trapezoidal Basin: 88 x 38 cm*
Notes on Measurements: The measurements given in Barruol (1977: p. 80) as 88 x 38+ x 28 are interpreted to be the width x length[partial] x height

INSCRIPTION

Inscription Language: Greek
Inscription Location: on the long side
Inscription Text: [niphamenos proseukhou] = pray after you clean yourself
Inscription Notes: [NB: the text is given in Barruol in Greke characters but appears here in Romanised form due to limitations in the font handling ability of the base program]
Inscription Source: Barruol (1977: 80)

REFERENCES

  • Rouquette, Jean-Maurice, Provence romane: la Provence rhodanienne, La Pierre-qui-vire. Yonne: Zodiaque, 1974, p. 80