Villardefrades No. 2

Considering the crude font in this church [cf. Index entry for Villadefrades No. 1], the holy-water stoup located in the exterior of the church is a pleasant surprise; it consists of a dodecagonal(?) basin with tapering sides, each with a niche-like cavity in which stands a figure holding an object, a possible representation of the Twelve Apostles; the surface is worn and now ridden with lichen, but one appears to hold a large key, surely the symbol for St. Peter. The basin stands on a round-to-square base; between the round top and the square bottom are sandwiched a number of couchant animals, either all lions, or a combination of lions and other beasts. It is not clear whether or not the two pieces, basin and base belong together, or whether this stoup is original, a modern copy, or a composite of both. Was it, or its original, part of an earlier building here, perhaps of one of the two medieval monasteries said to have existed here, or was brought from elsewhere? There is no mention of this object in the entry for the St. Cucufate chapel in the Enciclopedia del Románico en Castilla y León (Valladolid vol.), and the Enciclopedia does not have an entry for the present parish church, being too modern for its inclusion.