Groothusen / Husum

Described and illustrated in Kroesen and Steensma (2004) as a good example of a 15th-century [dated precisely to 1454] bronze font from the workshp of the bell-casting Klinghe family of Bremen: "The basin is supported by four deacons. On the basin are fifteen representations with the Crucifixion and three figures under two arches and the rest under one arch each. They are the Virgin and Child, who have a slightly wider space than the other saints, St George, St Benedict, St Nicholas and ten apostles. The inscription at the top reads [...] [cf. Inscription area below]. It calls on a number of well-known female saints to pray for the parishioners and the names do not refer to the figures underneath. The inscription at the bottom reads [...] [cf. Inscription area below]. The font was thus cast by Ghert Klinghe (c.1400- c.1474) one of the best-known bell and font casters of the fifteenth century. Sixty-one works can be attributed to him and his workshop from the years 1433 to 1474. Twenty-four bells and four fonts have been preserved, mainly in the East Frisia and around Oldenburg, but also in Schleswig-Holstein and in the North of the Netherlands." Like those on the fonts at Eilsum, Uttum, Wiegboldsbur, etc., the arches that house the figures around the basin sides do not fall in the clearly defined types, but are rather stylised versions of Ogee-type arches, and are heavily decorated not only in the spandrels but also with symbols and motifs growing out of the arches themselves (lilies, crosses, foliage, etc.). The figures in the arcade are individually identified by inscribed haloes [the Crucifixion has 'INRI'], as is the case in the font at nearby Eilsum, of the same period and workshop.