Aurich-Oldendorf

Noted in Mithoff (1871-1880). In Ligtenberg (1915). Noted and illustrated in Drake (2002), who points out that "damage at the upper rim prevents making a difinitive statement about the whole programme" on this font. Drake (ibid.) classes it as font of the Bentheim School, "Sögel. e. Type V", all by itself in this sub-class. The Evangelisch-lutherische Kirchegemeinde St. Petri Aurich-Oldendorf site [www.kirche-aurich-oldendorf.de/gemeinde/kirche-und-gebäude/] [accessed 14 February 2016] informs that the 13th-century Bentheim baptismal font in this church stood towards the end of Thirty Years War [i.e., ca. 1648] near the entranceway of the church but by 1792 it had ended up serving as water trough for livestock in a farm nearby; in the mid-20th century it was rediscovered [="wiederentdeckt"] and restored to its liturgical function inside the church. As indicated in Drake [cf. supra] the upper quarter or so is very badly damaged, a good portion of the stone gone, which does not permit the identification of the decoration in that area; the stone surface is also very weathered, so the triple rope moulding between the two vines has lost most of its pattern; the two vines, however, have survived in enough detail to show that they match those found on fonts of the Sögel type: the upper vine with arch-like geometrical elements, while the lower one has heart-shaped curves and tendrils that zig-zag all around them; its is raised on the round-to-square pedestal that has a roll moulding at the top and four couchant-regardant lions at 90-degree angles of the broad central shaft; it also has small colonnettes attached to the central broad shaft between the lions. There is no font cover now, though no doubt some of the damage to the upper rim was caused by the anchorings of an earlier cover. A metal baptismal dish has been fitted to the irregular top of the basin.