Polna / Polná

The entry for this church in the Czech Wikipedia [https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kostel_Nanebevzetí_Panny_Marie_(Polná)] [accessed 20 January 2025] reports a baptismal font from a previous church; it was made of pewter in 1617, the work of the Jihlava pewterer Lukáš Gleixner; it is decorated with reliefs of the four evangelists and two medallions. The restoration of the font is documented in Ivan Houska's Restaurátorská zpráva: Cínová křtitelnice a svícny Děkanství Polná (Pasířství Houska & Douda, 2006) [https://www.academia.edu/36771273/Restaurátorská_zpráva_Cínová_křtitelnice_a_svícny_Děkanství_Polná] [accessed 20 January 2025]. Houska (ibid.) informs that there is a monogram, MGK, and that it is said the maker may have been Doppler, a local pewterer, but there is no reliable evidence [cf. supra]. Houska (ibid.) informs that the decoratin and workmanship on the font is related to the one on the pewter coffins in this church, the relief decoration of the coffin of Polyxena, daughter of Rudolph Žejdlice, having identical motifs to those on the baptismal font dated 1617. Houska (ibid.) identifies the decoration on the sides of the font as follows: a total of seventy-six winged angel heads of four types types), four rectangular cartouches with the symbols of the Evangelists alternating with four medallions that include scenes from the life of Christ: Annunciation, Nativity, Baptism and Resurrection; Houska further mentions little birds on the font. Houska (ibid.) informs that the is a copper insert for the holy water and that, although badly damaged and worn, it had an inscription on it with the date 1637. With regards the replacement of the finial on the cover Houska (ibid.) informs that the statue which served as finial before the restoration was not part of the original, but that it was the work of a local artist and the was installed as finial in the 29th century; the cross used to replaced it is thought to be the original finial and was kept in the sacristy.