Vilar Maior No. 1

Main image for Vilar Maior No. 1

Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2016

Standing permission

Results: 12 records

design element - motifs - moulding

near the very bottom of the underbowl
Scene Description: near the very bottom of the underbowl
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2016
Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 11 June 2016 by Joost Limburg
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - motifs - rope or sawtooth?

a band all around the centre
Scene Description: a band all around the centre
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2016
Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 11 June 2016 by Joost Limburg
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - motifs - concentric circles

deeply carved, all around the underbowl
Scene Description: deeply carved, all around the underbowl
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2016
Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 11 June 2016 by Joost Limburg
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - motifs - ball

one in each of the spandrels created by the concentric circles of the underbowl
Scene Description: one in each of the spandrels created by the concentric circles of the underbowl
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2016
Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 11 June 2016 by Joost Limburg
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

symbol - cross - Greek - Maltese - in a circle

a second one -- the Knights Hospitaller had much influence in this area at the time, so it is not surprising to see Maltese crosses here
Scene Description: a second one -- the Knights Hospitaller had much influence in this area at the time, so it is not surprising to see Maltese crosses here
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2016
Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 11 June 2016 by Joost Limburg
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - motifs - unidentified

several of them [hand-shaped?]
Scene Description: several of them [hand-shaped?]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2016
Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 11 June 2016 by Joost Limburg
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - patterns - ribbed

in a parenthetical arrangement between the motifs
Scene Description: in a parenthetical arrangement between the motifs
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2016
Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 11 June 2016 by Joost Limburg
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

symbol - cross - Greek - Maltese - in a circle

[cf. FontNotes]
Scene Description: [cf. FontNotes]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2016
Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 11 June 2016 by Joost Limburg
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of basin - interior

Font image
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2016
Image Source: digital photograph taken 11 June 2016 by Joost Limburg
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - motifs - moulding

all around the rim
Scene Description: all around the rim
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2016
Image Source: digital photograph taken 11 June 2016 by Joost Limburg
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church exterior - corbel

from the ruins of the church, chancel part -- notice the Maltese cross
Scene Description: from the ruins of the church, chancel part -- notice the Maltese cross
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2016
Image Source: digital photograph taken 11 June 2016 by Joost Limburg
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church exterior - detail

the ruins of the Igreja de Santa Maria do Castelo, in Vilar Maior
Scene Description: the ruins of the Igreja de Santa Maria do Castelo, in Vilar Maior
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Capeia Arraiana, 2016
Image Source: digital image in Capeia Arraiana [http://capeiaarraiana.pt/category/camara-e-juntas/freguesias-e-anexas/vilar-maior/] [accessed 23 June 2016]
Copyright Instructions: No known copyright restriction / Fair Dealing

INFORMATION

Font ID: 11059VIL
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th - 13th century, Late Romanesque / Early Gothic?
Cognate Fonts: the fonts at nearby Alfaiates and Sebugal?
Church / Chapel Name: Igreja Paroquial de São Pedro
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Peter
Previous Font Location(s): originally from the Igreja de Santa Maria do Castelo, in the same village?
Church Notes: the Igreja de Santa Maria do Castelo, where this font is said to come from, is in the same village, Vilar Maior; it is described in SIPA [IPA.00002959], as "moçárabe ou visigótica" re-built in the 13thC
Church Address: Vilar Maior, 6320 Sabugal, Portugal
Site Location: Beira Interior, Distrito da Guarda, Portugal, Europe
Directions to Site: Located off (W) the N332, in the municipality of Sebugal, W of the Spanish border, about 30 km SSE of Guarda
Historical Region: Beira alta
Additional Comments: moved font / sold font / font for sale : Loução (2004) informs that the font was already spoken for sale at the price of 40,000 escudos but the sale was stopped "graças à acção da Prof. Delfina".
Font Notes:
Noted and illustrated in SIPA [IPA.00002965]: "Junto ao nicho colateral da Epístola, surge a antiga pia batismal, em cantaria de granito formada pela taça em forma de cálice, decorada com círculos concêntricos e quadrifólios [...] pia batismal antiga, supostamente da época visigótica, originária da Igreja de Santa Maria do Castelo". Described and illustrated in Loução (2004), who suggests a Visigothic date for it. The roughly hemispheric basin appears executed in the old fashion of large baptismal fonts without a foot, but some elements of the ornamentation -e.g., the 'Templar' cross- are definitely not Visigothic. If anything, one could relate this object to a baptismal font originally from the Burgos area and now in the Archaeological Museum in Madrid [cf. Index entry for Mazariegos], which dates from the mid-12th century. The font at Vilar Maior is probably even later, perhaps of the date of the conquest of Vilar Maior from the Arabs in 1230 by the king of Leon, a conquest in which the Knights Templar took part. Loução's (ibid.) claim to the antiquity and uniqueness of this object is unfortunately much exagerated. The font is a monolitic basin decorated with a moulding at the upper rim; below it is a band containing a number of symbols: a 'Templar cross', several hand-like motifs, etc., and a filling of parenthetical ribs around the motifs, all around; the centre of the basin has a band of decoration that at spots looks like saw-tooth or zig-zag, and at others more like a rope / torsade pattern; the lower register of the basin is decorated with a series of concentric circles with small ball motifs in the spandrels. The basin rests directly on the ground, without a base.
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Joost Limburg, of www.romanicoportugal.org, for his photograph of this church and font

COORDINATES

UTM: 29T 662773 4468368

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, granite
Number of Pieces: one
Font Shape: hemispheric
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round
Drainage System: centre hole in basin
Drainage Notes: no lining

REFERENCES

  • Loução, Paulo Alexandre, Os templários na formação de Portugal, Lisboa: Ésquilo, 2004, p. 286-288