Avignon No. 4

This object is now in the Musée d'Aquitaine, Bordeaux, where it is labeled as a former capital from Notre-Dame-des-Doms, in Avignon, transformed into holy-water stoup probably on the date engraved in it, "1618". The museum label notes [our translation]: "Genesis is represented here in an unusual manner: 1. God holds a large disque in one hand, representation of heavens, and in the other a balance; 2. He holds a star in one hand, and a crescent moon in the other; 3. He places His hand on the newly-created Adam; 4. He pulls Eve from Adam`s side." The date on the label was the 14th century, but it appears to have been defaced to read the 11th century [i.e., the Roman numeral XIV has had its V semi-erased]; the label further notes that the Clement V, a Gascon pope in Avignon [born Raymond Bertrand de Got in Villandraut, Aquitaine, was Pope 1305-1314], advanced the cause of bishops from Bordeaux, who visited him often, and suggests it may have been of those bishops who took the capital to Bordeaux. [NB: Clement V is better known for his leadership in the destruction of the Order of the Knights Templar].