Madrid No. 8

Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Results: 16 records
B01: design element - motifs - foliage - scroll circle
B02: design element - motifs - moulding - triple
B03: animal - bird?
B04: animal - bird? - foliage
B05: animal - fighting - 2
BBU01: design element - motifs - foliage scroll
BH01: animal - head - 4
BU01: design element - motifs - foliage - palmette?
LB01: design element - motifs - scroll - circle
LB02: design element - motifs - floral or foliage
LB03: animal - in a circle
inscription
view of base
view of basin
view of basin - interior
INFORMATION
FontID: 11260MAD
Museum and Inventory Number: Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid
Church/Chapel: [origin unknown]
Country Name: Spain
Location: Madrid, Comunidad de Madrid
Font Location in Church: [in a museum]
Century and Period: 11th century (late), Romanesque
Font Notes: Click to view font notes
The MNA's description refers to this object as a baptismal font of the last quarter of the 11th century, Romanesque style, made of dolomitic stone [= "último cuarto del siglo XII. Piedra dolomítica [...] Estilo románico [...]" It consists of two pieces: the basin is roughly cylindrical with a rounded underbowl, and has four large protruding animal heads on the upper sides at 90-degree angles; the heads appear to be: bear, dog, sheep and feline; between the heads runs a band of foliage scroll; there are two bands of parallel triple moulding defining the middle of the basin, the space between them filled with several foliage scroll circles each of which contains a plant (?), an animal or fabulous animal, and one of them a zoomachia scene between an eagle (?) and a quadruped, perhaps a lion; the spandrels formed by the circles are filled with varied floral or foliage motifs; the underbowl has a band of foliage or palmette motif, very stylised, almost Arabic in design; the ornamentation of the cylindrical pedestal base is similar, most of the circles there filled with animals or fabulous animals. The inner well of the basin does not seem to have a drain, but it may have been blocked.
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material:
stone, dolomitic stone