Roden / Roderwolde / Roon / Roterwolde

An illustration in W.L. Schiffer, ‘Oude doopvonten in Drenthe met 5 platen’, Nieuwe Drentsche Volkalamanak (1885: 120-133) already shows that the lion heads on the supporting base had already been severed by that date. Listed with measurements in Ligtenberg (1915), who gives the location in a museum in Assen; he notes traces of red paint on it. A 1952 ink drawing of this font in the Collectie Deodatus, is listed and illustrated in the Drents Archief [ref.: DA023910061] [www.drentsarchief.nl/beeldbank/35d80757-2e9c-4f1b-887d-783f3a3353f1] [accessed 10 December 2015]. Drake (2002) lists a font at Roden in group Hage a. Type I, of the Bentheim School [listed in this group are the fints at: Berum (F), Forlitz-Baukirchen, Hage, Kappeln, Keitum, Ohne, Roden, Westochtersum and Wesuwe); the font is listed under Germany, but it must be the one listed in the Encyclopedie Drenthe as being in the Catharinakerk, Roden [aka Roon], in the Netherlands province of Drenthe. The font consists of a roughly cylindrical basin decorated with, from top down: a double-roll moulding [not a rope in this case], a vine with several types of foliage, including palmettes, another double roll moulding [not a rope, either], and a band of fan palmette pattern; the base is round at the centre ring with much-damaged moulding, becoming square at the bottom; on the sides are four bulges at 90-degree angles; these 'bulges' can be identified as seating lions by their hind legs still discernible despite the damage inflicted on them, as heads and parts of their bodies have been lost. No font cover present, but there is evidence of anchoring spots from an earlier font cover at the upper rim of the basin. Limburg [www.romanicoportugal.info/zdutchfonts.htm] [accessed 25 January 2016] has: "For many years the font stood in the Drents Museum, before it returned to the church. The head of one of the lions is kept in the NAD in Nuis (Groningen)". [cf. BSI entry for Roderwolde for the 14th-15thC font there]. A communication to BSI from Pol Herman (e-mail of 26 December 2021) confirms the font base head fragment at the NOORDELIJK ARCHEOLOGISCH DEPOT at Nuis [Inventory number : 1986-IX.6]; description: Stone: sandstone carved lion's head from and matching the baptismal font of Roden (H 1884-1). Date: 13th century. Material : Font. Location: Roden. Period : Middle Ages Late: 1050 - 1500 AD. Acquisition : Was once part of the baptismal font NH-church at Roden. Purchased from Mr. H.J. Klaassens, Kostvlies 59 in Gasselte. Literature : Vilsteren, V.T. van, “Bijna op de kop af.....” In: NDV 103 (1986), p. 142-144. Beeldenstorm in Drenthe ? In: Drents Museum Journaal 2, nr. 3 (1986), p. 1-2.