Strasbourg no. 4

Clearly identified in the cover photograph by Alain Le Toquin (Jardins du Moyen Âge, 2001) as a baptismal font dated 1492 and located now [ca. 2000] in the garden of the museum. The basin is polygonal in shape (octagonal?), with a flat upper lip at the rim, now coloured a rich green by the covering moss; the sides of the basin are covered in Ogee windows in high relief; the octagonal base has buttresses at the angles which give it a star-like shape and is mounted on a star-shaped plinth which appears modern. The font shows reconstruction, especially in the underbowl and base, and some further damage at the upper rim. [NB: the caption on the verso of t.p. gives the date as "1442", but it is probably a typographical error]. The same source (Jardins..., p. 113) informs that this font, attributed to the sculptor Sifer and installed in the garden ca. 1937 by Hans Haug, came originally from a church in the Bas-Rhin. A communication from Pol Herman to BSI (e-mail of 5 February 2022) informs that the original church was Robertsau, and gives this URL as reference [https://m.facebook.com/Musee.Oeuvre.Notre.Dame/photos/a.393195594077545/3976736362390099/?type=3&source=48] [accessed 9 February 2022]