Dresden No. 1

An illustration of this font in its original shape appears in Bruck (1912); the font cosists of a cylindrical basin deeply carved with Biblical scenes in window-like frames, one of which is the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan river and a possible the Israelites Crossing of the Red Sea; between these frames are elaborate niches that may have have housed little statuettes;a band of large semi-precious stones separates the basin sides from the underbowl; the underbowl is crowded with humans (putti, demi-figures), foliage and architectural details; the cylindrical pedestal base has several niches or windows, deeply carved with human figures engaged in different activities (drinking, etc.); between the niches, geometrical shapes; mouldings below. The metal (?) font cover is domed-shaped, the lower side decorated with a fret band, the upper part of the dome appears to have scenes on it, and the finial is cup or chalice shaped with a couchant lamb on it; the cover appears to have had handles at opposite ends. The font was badly damaged in the Allied bombings of World War II that destroyed a large part of Dresden. Described and illustrated in Syndram (2001) as the fragmentary remains of the baptismal font originally from the chapel of Dresden Castle; it is believed to be the work of Hans Walther II and dated to 1555; the author describes the remains, which amount to part of the basin sides, most of the underbowl, and part of the pedestal base; the materials listed in the source are: sandstone, alabaster, jasper and serpentine stone. Described and illustrated in Heiner Siedel's Dekorationsgesteine und Schmucksteine am Taufstein der Schlosskapelle in Dresden / Decorative and semiprecious stones on the font of the chapel in the Residence Castle in Dresden, in Geologia saxonica 63: 123-135 [www.senckenberg.de/geologica-saxonica] [accessed 29 June 2022], where the abstract reads: "In a renewed petrographic investigation of the stone material of the font of the chapel in the Residence Castle in Dresden (1558), contrary descriptions of the used material in the existing literature were critically examined and partially revised. An interesting new insight was the early use of (regional?) alabaster in the foot of the font by the Dresden sculptor Hans Walther II. At the same time the utilization of serpentinite and jasper from Saxony and the use of light, fine-grained limestone probably from Southern Germany by Hans Walther reflect his early intentions to apply decorative minerals and stones for designing pieces of art. The red limestones in the pedestal as well as in the rim of the basin, most likely coming from Grünau near Wildenfels in Saxony, are additions of a later renovation after 1600. Diamond-point stones on the font’s foot made of the green serpentinite breccia Verde Antico correspond with columns of the same material on the second altar of the chapel in the Residence Castle, erected during a renovation by Klengel 1662. The results demonstrate that investigations of stone materials used on works of art might contribute to better understanding of the object’s history."