Brancoli

Described and illustrated by Letizia Badalassi [http://lucca.cribecu.sns.it/mv] as a composite baptismal font, chiefly of the late 12th or early 13th century, the work of the Lucca architect and sculptor Guidetto; octagonal immersion font; each side is panelled with a veneer slab of marble ornamented with a mirror, a grapevine ringlet and foliage; around the upper side runs a frieze that should originally have had eight human and animal protomes (three of these are now lost; what remains are three protruding and agressive-looking male heads as well as two animal heads); the upper rim is ornamented with seven knobs or pomes and pinnacles, of which only four (two dome-like, one pome-like, another with a moulded body) are original; the others are the result of a sorry restoration attempt carried out after WWII: an apple, a melon and a pear, were found by a local "cultore" who claimed to have discovered them in a Lucca antique dealer and believed them to be the original missing ornaments of this font; we [i.e., L. Badalassi] do not know whether these pieces were 'made to match' by a local artisan or just the leftovers of a broken ornamente of modern design [this description is a summary and translation of Badalassi's entry in the above source]. Noted and illustrated in Kroesen and Steensma (2004): "The octagonal basin in Brancoli, by the same artist who created the beautiful pulpit in this church in 1194, has a tendril decoration on the corners and along the upper edge[...] There are knobs at the corners of the upper edge as well as the symbols of the evangelists."