Kain-la-Tombe

Baptismal font listed and illustrated in BALaT KIK-IRPA [https://balat.kikirpa.be/object/10057451] [accessed 24 December 2023], a composite of a basin made ca. 1655 of white Italian marble and a base of limestone ["fonts baptismaux [...] Date: 1655 (ca) - 1655 (ca) [...] cuve en marbre blanc d'Italie, partie inférieure renouvelée en calcaire carbonifère [...] hauteur: 100.5 cm"]. The font cover is dated ca. 1950. The font consists of a roughly hemispheric basin decorated with deeply-carved cherub head, garlands and at least one armorial device [NB: the listing mentions a "Chales des Trompes as 'associated' but it is not clear whether the assocoation is via the armorial device]; raised on a round baluster-type pedestal base decorated with mouldings and gadroons, on a square lower base. The metal cover is a low-dome with a Greek-cross finial. A communication to BSI from Pol Herman (e-mail of 14 April 2023) informs: "Provenance of the baptismal font : chapelle Notre-Dame de la Tombe. The hamlet around the abbey of Saulchoir (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbaye_du_Saulchoir) and the old chapel of Notre-Dame de la Tombe became a parish in its own right on September 18, 1897 under the name of Kain-la-Tombe. The new parish church was built in 1905, in a neo-Gothic style. The baptismal font in this church comes from the chapel Notre-Dame de la Tombe and dates from around 1655. This chapel is located around 500 meters north of the church, in the middle of the old village square, and is a Gothic oratory made of Tournai limestone and bricks. It was built around 1490. In the 12th century, the peasants of Saulchoir had planted a statue of the Virgin Mary at the top of a pagan Roman tumulus. The chapel became a stopover for pilgrims travelling to the Mont de la Trinité (Mont-Saint-Aubert) and who came to pray near the statue of the Virgin. The chapel was ransacked by the iconoclasts in 1566, and left abandoned. The building was restored in 1608 and 1700. In 1833, the chapel was enlarged by six meters. Reference : Kain-la-Tombe, son charme discret, par Michel Tack, In : Hainaut Tourisme, déc. 1995, n°293"