Odense No. 3

Wooden baptismal font. Described and illustrated in Bach-Nielsen (1998: 107-108) as one of a group of early- or mid-17th century hexagonal mounted baptismal fonts; they are shaped like an hour-glass, both basin and base approximately even in size and ornamentation; in the case of the font at Vor Frue, Odense, the short vertical sides of the upper basin contain a painted inscription, while the tall sides that run down to the underbowl are painted with scenes identified in Bach-Nielsen (ibid.) as: 1)the Flood; 2)baby Moses found by Egyptian princess; 3)the Pharaoh's chariot is about to be engulfed by the Red Sea waters; 4)Nativity; 5)Baptism of Christ; 6)Circumcision of the child Christ. The arrises of the basin are decorated with cherubs, their stylised wings almost invisible, with foliage above and below them; these arrises, as well as the horizontal dividers, on both basin and base are heavily gilded. Bach-Nielsen (ibid., 101-118) states that the iconography of these Reformation and Post-Reformation fonts reflects the use of "Luther's christening ritual [that] was introduced from the Taufbüchlein with its three main parts: Matt. 7:7-8, Mark 10:13-16 and Luther's Prayer at the Flood" (ibid., p. 118) [the inscription on this font is actually from Mark 16, 16: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned"]; he also points out the depiction of "the perilous water" as a "threatening element" in the iconography on these fonts. Described and illustrated in similar terms in Johannsen & Kryger (2002?: 21-23) who date it to ca. 1620, the work of Anders Mortensen; they describe and illustrate the metal baptismal dish [="dåbsfad"] as either German or Dutch and date it to ca. 1550 [We are grateful to Karin Kryger and Hugo Johannsen, of Danmarks kirker, The National Museum, Copenhagen, for bringing this font to our attention and for the information supplied]