Pont-Saint-Esprit / Lo Pònt Sant Esperit / Saint-Saturnin-du-Port / Portum Sancti Saturnini

Cylindrical lead basin described as a "Cuve baptismale romane en plomb du XIIème siècle", located now [July 2009] in the collections of the Musée d'art sacré du Gard, in Pont-Saint-Esprit, Gard Dept. The object appears cylindrical and made of sheets of lead welded together, though the welding has broken in some places and the sheets have beensecured by means of iron rivetted braces; one of the sides [no information available on the similarity of all the sheet side decoration] is decorated with a plain round arch on thick columns with decorated capitals and bases; inside the arch is a standing male figure, haloed, bearded and dressed in rich wrap-around clothes decorated with beaded-tape; the figure appears to hold a large key to his chest and is therefore tentatively identified as the Apostle St. Peter; a band of reticular pattern with inserted dots or beads runs all around the lower side; the decoration on the capitals and bases includes both zig-zag and beaded motifs. [NB: we have no information on the images on the other sides]. If a font, it was probably used mounted on a stone base. [NB: we have no information on the origin of this piece].