Kranenburg in Kleve / Cranenborg / Kranenborgh / Kranich

Baptismal font of stone consisting of an octagonal basin with rounded sides and underbowl, raised on a round pedestal stem and a moulded octagonal lower base; stem and lower base are modern; the basin has a torus-scotia-torus combination at the upper end, followed by a band of Ogee tracery below; the panels of the eight sides and underbowl are covered in tracery, some of it window tracery, and the front (?) panel has a Latin inscription that includes the date 1448. The font cober is of low-dome shape, of metal (copper?), with an orb-and-cross finial.
A communication from Pol Herman to BSI (e-mail of 12 January 2022) adds information gathered from the website of RP Rheinische Post:
- Master builder Gisbert Schairt from Zaltbommel most likely created the baptismal font in the collegiate and pilgrimage church of Kranenburg in 1448. The master used Baumberger sandstone for the 117 centimeter high font from 1448. An eight-sided, profiled foot is supported by an eight-sided column covered with ogival tracery and a goblet-like, projecting basin, the eight sides of which are covered with flat tracery between frameworks. On one side, facing east, is a multiple looped banner between foliage with the inscription in Gothic minuscule: anno d (omi) ni mccccxlviii (in the year of the Lord 1448). The font was not damaged during World War II despite falling bricks. The lid is not original and was only made after World War II. Until the end of the 1990s, the was crowned by a resurrected figure of Christ. This goldsmith's work has now been replaced by a finial. Until before World War II, the font was surrounded by a late Gothic grille. This feature should suggested a baptistery. The grill, which was only found back around 1990, was supposed to be put up again. It was stored outside the church but was stolen in early 2000.
- The German art historian Paul Clemen calls the font in the monastery and pilgrimage church of Kranenburg “a very interesting, excellent work”. The preservationist was born in Leipzig in 1866 and died in Endorf in 1947. In 1893 he was appointed the first provincial curator of the Rhine Province.