Toulouse No. 6 / Tolosa

Studied and illustrated in Villa del Castillo et al. (2018) [https://jaimeeguiguren.com/artworks/categories/2/9395-lead-baptismal-font-13th-century/] [accessed 20 June 2022] as a baptismal font basin made of lead in the 13th century; probably made in the southeast of France; provenance unknown: "This is an example of a baptismal font slightly shaped like a truncated cone, with a base of a wider diameter than the stem, and thin walls [...] Its exterior cylinder is decorated with three friezes, all of them framed by moldings representing ropes. The lower frieze presents a design of vegetal spirals made up of leaves, that repeats itself five times and a half. In the middle frieze [...], beyond doubt the most interesting regarding its design and iconography, pairs of animals and fantastic beings are portrayed in a passing attitude, facing each other and separated by symmetrical trees, similar to the “Hom” or “Tree of Life”, a theme that is often represented in the Orientalizing art (for example, in the Hispano-Islamic caskets of Leyre and the Palencia Cathedral [...] The trunks of all the trees present truncated branches, with only three complete branches in their upper part, which are crowned by different types of leaves and fruits (with either three or five rounded lobes, three pointed lobes and in heart-shaped clusters). Among the fantastic beings there are the centaur archer, the griffin, the dragon and the basilisk, while the only animal from the real world is a lion. These beings are looking to the front, except for the centaur, that is turning its torso backwards and pointing its bow in the same direction, towards the basilisk. The described theme repeats itself six times throughout the perimeter. Finally, the upper frieze is also decorated with vegetal spirals; in this case, crowned by leaves with three pointed lobes, which are also repeated in their interior and separate each of them. This theme repeats itself four and a half times. The decoration of the piece is completed by a thick rectangular molding in its base, with a prominent and molded finish." The same source (ibid.) informs that the provenance of the font can only be traced until 1948, year in which a note exists dated 27 May 1948 from the Paris antiquarian C. Joret to the buyer; the letter mentions the font as 11th-century. In September of the same year the vendor rushes the buyer to cnclude the purchase because he already has an offer for the font from the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York for twice the quoted price.