Heemse / Heymis / Hiemse

Eyck (1846) mentions early fonts at Oldenzaal, Heemse, Loosduinen and Schokland, that are now lost [NB: he was probably referring to the font from the 8th-century church here]. Ortt van Schonauwen (1858) mentions a Bentheim font from this church having been for a long time used as a water-trough in the rectory garden. Listed with measurements in Ligtenberg (1915) as a sandstone baptismal font of the Romanesque period. A font here is noted in Drake (2002) as having a variant type of heart motif from others in the Bentheim School. The font, which is very worn around the upper rim, as well as on the sides, consists of the quasi-cylindrical tub-shaped basin typical of many Bentheim fonts of the period, the sides decorated with a running vine, a plain double rol moulding below, and a pattern of heart-like motifs below; this latter element is what Drake [cf. supra] points out as a variation; it resembles a chain of hearts on their sides, each pointed tip fitting into the opening of the next one; one could suggest that it is a stylised form of the braid or double-rope pattern so common in many of the Bentheims; does this stylising oof an earlier motif make it a later work? The base is more traditional within the types of Bentheim fonts, four stylised lions at 90-degree angles from a cylindrical stem, on a quadrangular lower base. No cover present.