Rocallaura

A holy-water stoup of the Romanesque period described and illustrated in Catalunya romànica (1984- , vol. XXI: 91, 202-203); the roughly cylindrical monolithic stoup is now [1995+] in the Museo Diocesano de Tarragona, but was originally from the parish church of Rocallaura, in La Segarra region; although the general shape of the object is cylindrical the upper half has a horizontal roll moulding and four vertical ones that give it a quadrangular aspect; the front side of the basin has a rectangular plaque-like carving divided into four bands by three thin horizontal grooves; there is a circle incised around and, whithin the resulting grid, is an inscription dating the font precisely to March 21, 1260. The back of the object is rough, perhaps broken off rather than unfinished, certainly at the upper rim where the damage is obvious. [cf. Index entry for Santes Creus for an ornamented baptismal font displayed next to this stoup in the Museu]