Saint-Michel-des-Tourettes nr. Apt

Results: 1 records

B01: Christ - monogram - Alpha and Omega

Scene Description: a/p Barruol's identification (1977: p. 80)

INFORMATION

FontID: 04889MIC
Museum and Inventory Number: Musée Calvet, Avignon
Church/Chapel: [former church, now [1977] "maison d'habitation"]
Church Patron Saints: St. Michael?
Country Name: France
Location: Vaucluse, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Directions to Site: The Musée Calvet, Avignon, is located on rue Joseph-Vernet, near rue de la République
Font Location in Church: now in a museum
Century and Period: 6th century, Gallo-Roman
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.)

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 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 Location: on the long side
Inscription Text: [niphamenos proseukhou] = pray after you clean yourself
Inscription Source: Barruol (1977: 80)

REFERENCES

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