Tohogne / Tungrorum

Noted and illustrated in KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium): baptismal font of limestone made between 1201 and 1300 in the Romanesque style. Noted and illustrated in Eglise romane de Saint-Martin de Tohogne [www.eglise-romane-tohogne.be] [accessed 29 March 2015]: "Les fonts baptismaux sont en calcaire bleu de Meuse - Ecole mosane, vers fin XIIIe s. ou début 14e s. Malgré leur taille sommaire, les têtes d’angle sont dotées d’une remarquable qualité d’austère et sévère expression qui varie d’une tête à l’autre et même pour chacun des profils, malgré la rigoureuse symétrie des traits. Elles symboliseraient les quatre fleuves de sagesse de la Bible. Certains y voient la représentation des évangélistes. [...] Le couvercle actuel est en cuivre battu. Il repose simplement sur le plat de la vasque. " The baptismal font appears to be in the tradition of the Namurois type produced of Mosan limestone ["calcaire de Meuse"], a round tapering basin decorated with four human heads at 90-degree angles; the heads are rendered as very individualised characters: a young handsome woman elegantly attired; a young elegant man with neatly trimmed hair, beard and moustache; an old tooth-less woman wearing a wimple; a woman with an oddly painted (?) face wearing a strangely decorated hat; the neck or dress of these heads extends down to the underbowl; between them is a frieze of well-rendered ivy (?) leaves; below this frieze are lanceolated leaves that are, by contrast, shallowly incised; the upper base consists of a broad central shaft and four outer colonnettes, all totally plain, and a quadrangular lower base also plain. The font cover is a metal dome [copper?] with a cross finial, a popular 17th-century design found on Namurois fonts.