Bierum

Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2021

Standing permission

Results: 14 records

design element - motifs - moulding - triple

Scene Description: very thin lines threaded through the bottom of the palmettes

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Michel wal, 2009

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 14 February 2009 by Michel wal [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bierum_church_903.jpg] [accessed 22 June 2015]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

design element - motifs - roll moulding

Scene Description: notice the small metal anchoring staple on the upper right side of the basin, below the upper rim

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2021

Image Source: digital photograph 12 September 2021 by Joost Limburg

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - motifs - rope moulding - parallel - opposed thread directions

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2021

Image Source: digital photograph 12 September 2021 by Joost Limburg

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - motifs - spur - 4

Scene Description: at 90-degree angles

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2021

Image Source: digital photograph 12 September 2021 by Joost Limburg

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - motifs - vine - palmette - bearing fruit

Scene Description: a stylised grapevine?

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2021

Image Source: digital photograph 12 September 2021 by Joost Limburg

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - patterns - fan-frieze

Scene Description: threaded with a very thin triple moulding; the lower end wraps onto the underbowl

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2021

Image Source: digital photograph 12 September 2021 by Joost Limburg

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church exterior - south view

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]

Image Source: digital photograph taken 5 July 2007 by Gouwenaar [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Romanogotische_kerk_van_Bierum.jpg] [accessed 22 June 2015]

Copyright Instructions: Released by its author into the public domain

view of church interior - nave - looking east

Scene Description: the old font, originally from Toorword, is visible here in the chancel, behind the altar, to the left [north]

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Gouwenaar, 2012

Image Source: digital photograph taken 27 June 2012 by Gouwenaar [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Romanogotische_kerk_van_Bierum.jpg] [accessed 22 June 2015]

Copyright Instructions: CC-Zero

view of church interior - nave - looking west

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, 2015

Image Source: B&W photograph taken June 1984 by A.J. (Ton) van der Wal [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Interieur_naar_het_westen_-_Bierum_-_20034747_-_RCE.jpg] [accessed 22 June 2015]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of font

Scene Description: the stairs and part of the pulpit are visible in the background

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Michel wal, 2009

Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 February 2009 by Michel wal [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bierum_church_903.jpg] [accessed 22 June 2015]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of font

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]

Image Source: digital image of a B&W photograph in Ligtenberg (1915: 179 fig. 28)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of font - upper view

Scene Description: showing the large bronze insert in it

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2021

Image Source: digital photograph 12 September 2021 by Joost Limburg

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font in context

Scene Description: in the chancel; the choir stalls in the background

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, 2015

Image Source: B&W photograph taken 14 September 1992 by A.J. (Ton) van der Wal [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:INTERIEUR,_DOOPVONT_-_Bierum_-_20279275_-_RCE.jpg] [accessed 22 June 2015]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of font in context

Scene Description: as is common in Durch Reformed churches, the font stands near the pulpit

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Joost Limburg, 2021

Image Source: digital photograph 12 September 2021 by Joost Limburg

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

INFORMATION

FontID: 19898BIE
Church/Chapel: Sebastiaankerk Bierum [originally from Toornwerd's demolished church]
Church Patron Saints: St. Sebastian
Church Location: Kerkstraat 2, 9906 PP Bierum, Netherlands -- Tel.: +31 596 592 138
Country Name: Netherlands
Location: Groningen
Directions to Site: Located Off (E) the N33, 1-2 km SE of Spijk, 8-9 km NNW of Farmsum, in the municipality of Delfzijl [NB: Toornwerd is located about 20 km WSW of Bierum]
Font Location in Church: Inside the church at Bierum, at the E end, in the chancel
Date: ca. 1120-1270?
Century and Period: 13th century, Late Romanesque
Workshop/Group/Artisan: Bentheim font, Berge, a. Type I [Drake]
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Joost Limburg [www.romanicoportugal.info/zdutchfonts.htm] for his photographs and help in documenting this font
Noted and illustrated with measurements in Ligtenberg (1915) as being in a museum in Groningen [NB: the font was at the Groningen museum from 1893 though 1966, when it was moved to Bierum]. Baptismal font of Bentheim sandstone, originally from the disappeared parish church of Toornwerd [NB: Toornwerd is located about 20 km WSW of Bierum]; the font consists of a round slightly tapering basin decorated with three bands of motifs: the top one is a vine bearing fruit; in the centre is a double rope moulding with the two threads in opposite directions; below is a fan-frieze pattern al around; the particularity of this fan-frieze is the the lower end threads through a triple moulding of very thin lines. Listed in Drake (2002) under "Type Berge I", although this font lacks the upper part which in the Type Nerge I includes an additional rope moulding and some plain upper rim; is it because this font was 'trimmed' around the upper end of the basin? [NB: this is not an uncommon way of dealing with damaged rims of ancient fonts]. The base of the font, however, does not have the leonine support characteristic of the Bentheim group of fonts; instead it is a round pedestal with a roll moulding bear the top, turning into a polygonal lower base with spurs at 90-degree angles in the corners. No cover present.

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 53.380874, 6.859288
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 53° 22′ 51.14″ N, 6° 51′ 33.44″ E
UTM: 32U 357613 5916776

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, sandstone (Bentheim)
Font Shape: cylindrical (mounted)
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round
Drainage Notes: partial metal insert in place
Diameter (includes rim): 84 cm*
Basin Depth: 23 cm*
Basin Total Height: 29 cm*
Font Height (less Plinth): 81 cm*
Notes on Measurements: * Ligtenberg (2015)

REFERENCES

Drake, Colin Stuart, The Romanesque Fonts of Northern Europe and Scandinavia, Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2002
Ligtenberg, Raphael, "Romaansche doopvonten in Nederland: De hardsteenen vonten", VIII, 2 [Tweede serie], Bulletin van den Nederlandschen Oudheidkundigen Bond, 1915, pp. 154-190, 236-252; r["References"]
Steensma, Regnerus, "Bentheimer doopvonten en wijwaterbekkens in Nederland", 23, Jaarboek voor liturgieonderzoek, 2007, pp. 1-18.