EARLY CHRISTIAN ART AND INSCRIPTIONS 



modern stem and base. The interior of the bowl is round, i foot 1 1 inches in diameter, by 

 10^ inches deep. The four spandrils at each corner of the top of the bowl ^ are enriched with 

 foliage, and on each of the vertical angles are grotesque human heads with foliage issuing from the 

 mouths. 



The four faces of the font are sculptured thus : — 



North Side. — The Nativity of Christ. — On the left is the Blessed Virgin in a bed, her 

 head only appearing above the bed covering. The ' Dextera Dei,' or Right hand of God, is placed 

 over the figure of the Virgin, with the two forefingers in the attitude of giving the benediction 

 pointing towards the face. At the foot of the Virgin's bed is the Infant Saviour, wrapped in 

 swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, above the top of which appear tlie heads and necks of the ox 

 and the ass. On the extreme right is St. Joseph, having his two hands upraised in an attitude of 

 adoration, close to the head of the Infant Saviour. The background is formed by two round arches 

 with a small conically roofed turret in the spandril. The couch on which the Virgin reposes is 

 ornamented below with an arcade of four arches, and the manger has a double row of pellets on the 

 under side. This is the usual conventional way of representing the Nativity in twelfth-century art. 

 The only uncommon feature is the introduction of the Dextera Dei above the Virgin. The meaning 

 of the symbol is either that God is communicating some message to the person over whom it occurs, 

 or that the person is at the moment specially under the protection of God or receiving His blessing. 



Most of the pictures of the Nativity in the MSS. of this period have a background of 

 Byzantine buildings, many of the details of which are a subject of interesting study for the architect. 



South Side. — The Baptism of Christ. — The Saviour is represented as nude, immersed up to 

 the waist in a font ornamented with a row of pellets. He has the nimbus round the head. On 

 the right is an angel holding the tunic of the Saviour whilst He is being baptized, and on the left 

 another angel holding up a book with the left hand and pointing to it with the right. Two of the 

 blank spaces in the background are filled in with ornamental rosettes. The absence of the dove 

 symbol above the head of the Saviour is remarkable. 



IFest Side. — The Entry of Christ into Jerusalem. — On the left side the Saviour is repre- 

 sented as riding on a colt the foal of an ass and holding the reins in His right hand, the left 

 being hidden. On the right, in front of the ass is a man holding a palm branch in each hand, and 

 behind the ass is a conventional palm tree. An ornamental rosette fills in the blank space at the back 

 of the Saviour. 



East Side. — Christ in Glory. — The Saviour is represented as enthroned within a vesica- 

 shaped aureole, giving the benediction with the right hand. The left hand and leg are defaced. On 

 each side of the central aureole is an oval frame ; that on the right enclosing the eagle symbol 

 of St. John, and that on the left the angel symbol of St. Matthew. 



To those who can read it aright, the four scenes represented on the font at West Haddon 

 contain an epitome of the whole Christian faith ; first, Christ born to redeem mankind ; then the 

 manifestation of the Trinity at His baptism ; His triumphal entry into Jerusalem with which the 

 series of the Passion commences ; and, lastly, Christ the Righteous Judge of Mankind. 



Harpole.- — The font has an approximately cylindrical bowl, 2 feet 5^- inches in diameter, and 

 I foot si inches deep externally, supported on a modern stem and base. Along the rim at the top 

 is sculptured a band of scroll foliage, and below a conventional tree with a pair of beasts placed 

 symmetrically on each side of it,' biting the branches. Behind the beast on the right is another 

 smaller beast with its tail in its mouth, and behind the beast on the left are two more conventional 

 trees. The remainder of the surface of the bowl is ornamented with a scale pattern copied from 

 roofing tiles.* 



' The tops of Norman fonts are very seldom ornamented, but there are other instances at Lenton, Notts, 

 and on the fonts of the Winchester type. 



2 Engraved in Baker's Hist. 0/ Nortiam/i/onsiire and j4ssoe. Archit. Soc. Rep. xx. 



■* This subject occurs more often on Norman tympana than on the fonts of the same period, there being 

 examples at Dinton (Bucks), Fritwel! (Oxon), Ashford and Swarkeston (Derbyshire), Lullington (Somerset), 

 and Treneglos (Cornwall). A tree with beasts placed symmetrically on each side of it was a religious symbol 

 amongst the Assyrians, which may have degenerated into meaningless ornament when copied by the ancient 

 Greeks and Romans. When at a later period the design found its way into medieval art of the west its 

 symbolical use may have been revived, but with a new Christian significance attached to it. On some Norman 

 tympana instead of a tree being the central object we have the Agnus Dei or a cross, or a circular rosette. 

 This would seem to show that the Tree of Life had the same meaning as Christ if the Agnus Dei or the cross 

 could be substituted for it. The tree with a beast on each side of it may therefore perhaps be intended to 

 show that as animals are largely dependent on the vegetable world for their food so Christians must derive 

 their spiritual sustenance from the Tree of Life, that is from Christ. 



* At Llantwit Major and Kenfig, Glamorganshire, there are Norman fonts decorated entirely with 

 scale work ; and this ornament, originally used for imitating the tiles on roofs of stone, was afterwards transferred 

 to fonts and the vertical surfaces of walls (as at Christchurch, Hants), and tympana of doorways. 



