Saint-Michel-l'Observatoire
Results: 2 records
INFORMATION
FontID: 04890MIC
Object Type: Stoup
Church/Chapel: Eglise haute-Saint-Michel-l'Observatoire
Church Patron Saints: St. Michael
Country Name: France
Location: Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Directions to Site: Located about 10 km SW of Forcalquier; follow the N100 to the D5, a NW local road which you follow for 3 km to the actual church, all of it just S ogf the Observatoire de Haute Provence whence the name of the church derives.
Font Location in Church: In the porch-gallery
Century and Period: 12th century, Romanesque
Font Notes:
Click to view
Described and illustrated in Barruol (1977) as a former Romanesque capital re-used as holy-water stoup. The stoup is ornamented with what Barruol describes as lions with diabolical heads on the front and human heads at the back angles; the back side of the capital is blank. Barruol (ibid.) argues that this vessel, the only one of its kind in Provence, could very well have been imported from Northern Italy, and that it is often compared to certain capitals from Serrabone. There is a font or large stoup in this church: a round, almost hemispherical basin decorated with a moulding at the upper rima, and very damaged motifs on the sides and underbowl to the xtent that it is diffcult to discern what some of the were originally; it is raised on a round pedestal base decorated only with a double moulding near the lower base. Located by the door.
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, marble?
Number of Pieces: one
Font Shape: capital
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: square
REFERENCES
Rouquette, Jean-Maurice, Provence romane: la Provence rhodanienne, La Pierre-qui-vire. Yonne: Zodiaque, 1974