Borgharen No. 1 / Hare

A fragment of stone is noted and illustrated in Selys-Longchamps (1907): it was discovered when the old church tower was demolished; the fragment was made of Maastricht limestone and measured 29 cm im height, 34 cm in length; the author suggests that it may have been been part of a baptismal font or have been part of a wall of the earlier church here, but he mentions that a colleague had a different suggestion: that it may have been part of the lower end of one of the columns of the portal. A communication to BSI from Pol Herman (e-mail of 17 March 2024) provides some references and further information: "Head of lion at Borgharen, now at the Bonnefantenmuseum at Maastricht. The old gothic church of Borgharen (15th c. ?) was demolished and replaced by a new neogothic one in 1887-'88. During the destruction of the tower, a lion figure was found in its foundation. t resembles the lions that can be found on some Mosan Romanesque baptismal fonts of the mid 12th century, e.g.: Furnaux, Fairon [...] According to Jean-Claude Ghislain is it impossible to know for sure that it is a fragment of such font. Too little remains from the complete object. However, taking into account the relatively small size of the object, he cannot determine what other purpose it could have served." Pol Herman (ibid.) adds: "It should be noted that the church has a gothic Mosan font with 4 heads, that is probably early 16th century. There must have been an older font" [NB: there is, cf. BSI entry for Borgharen No. 2]