Ronchinne / Maillen

Nathalie de Harlez' and the Institut du Patrimoine wallon's Inventaire des parcs et jardins de Belgique – Wallonie, Province de Namur, Parc du Domaine de Ronchinne [https://europeangardens.eu/inventories/bew/BEIEJP_Wallonie_Namur.xml/ead/BEIEJPW_Namur_J13.pdf] [accessed 10 January 2025] report that this Ronchinne site was acquired and occupied since June 1912 by prince Victor Napoléon and was occupied since June 1912, his wife princess Clémentine of Belgium, daughter of king Léopold II, and their daughter Marie-Clotilde, who introduced the decorative and architectural changes. The same source reports a baptismal font made of limestone, its round basin decorated with human faces is reported in the porch of this 'domaine': "Dans le porche, fonts baptismaux (rapportés) en pierre calcaire, dont la cuve circulaire est sculptée de visages humains". A later source, 30 December 2009 edition of L'Avenir [https://www.lavenir.net/archives-journal/2009/12/30/transformes-en-jardiniere-DINRFXVXCBHOXG5QQEZV7GTPFM/] [accessed 10 January 2025] mentions a source, Jacques Toussaint, reporting that several fonts collected by the Napoleons in the Ronchinne site had been recently 'dispersés' to antiquaries: "citant encore l'exemple récent du château de Ronchinne, où plusieurs fonts baptismaux, collectionnés par le mari de la Princesse Napoléon, ont été il y a peu dispersés chez des antiquaires". The above font in question is described in another source [https://www.assesse.be/fr/loisirs/tourisme/office-du-tourisme/patrimoine-et-curiosites/maillen] [accessed 10 January 2025] as "fonts baptismaux romans", i.e., a Romanesque baptismal font [NB: the term "les fonts baptismaux", plural in French, to designate equally one or more baptismal fonts, may turn ambiguous in a phrase]. The font is listed and illustrated in KIK-IRPA [tps://balat.kikirpa.be/object/10066785] [accessed 12 January 2025]: "cuve de fonts baptismaux circulaire avec 4 têtes [...] pierre taillé, sculpté [...] Date: 1301 (incertain) - 1400 (incertain) [...] Pays mosan. Dimensions: hauteur: 35 cm; diamètre: 94 cm [...] base non originale".