Sandhem

Hallbäck (1971) reports that this monolithic font was built into one of the walls of the church; attributed to the Bolum group of fonts. Noted and illustrated in the SHM Medeltidens bildvärld [ref.: 920708F1] as a baptismal font made of sandstone in the mid-12th century by an unidentified workshop -- the SHM entry refers to Hallbäck [cf. supra] and dismisses the group attribution and suggests a date in the mid-12th century. The font appears monolithic, not having its original base or plinth [if there was one originally]; the block is roughly square, each side decorated with a blind arcade of round arches on columns; the decoration on the four sides are paired north-south and east-west in their design; the north-south sides [orientation used as per the location of the font in the church in 2020] have three rounds arches supported on columns with capitals and bases, each arch framed in a rectangular niche; the east-west sides have also three round arches but they rest on very broad aptterned supports, each one decorated with a different pattern and lacking both capitals an bases; on these sides, there is a frieze or band in which a pair of dragons with vine bodies are set end-to-end; they are stylised and only the heads at the outer ends give away their animal nature; the concave underbowl chamfer appears to be plain. No cover present. [NB: in 2011 the font is located at the east end of the north bank of benches, just south of the pulpit, but the photograph of the font in the SHM entry shows it located in a tight corner elsewhere; either location would not have been the original in the medieval church]. A modern font of 1913, also in this church, is reported in the Infocenter at the municipality of Mullsjö [www.mullsjo.se/upptack-mullsjo/se--gora/kultur/kyrkor/sandhems-kyrka] [accessd 21 January 2021]