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.) states that the decoration and workmanship on the font is related to the one on the pewter coffins in this church; the relief decoration on the coffin of Polyxena, daughter of Rudolph Žejdlice, has 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 mentions little birds on the font. Houska (ibid.) says that there is a copper insert for the holy water and, although badly damaged and worn, it had an inscription on it with the date 1637. In regards to the replacement of the finial on the cover Houska (ibid.) notes that the statue which served as finial before the restoration, was not part of the original cover but the work of a local artist installed in the 20th century; the cross which replaced the statue is believed to be the original finial which was kept in the sacristy.