EARLY CHRISTIAN ART AND INSCRIPTIONS 



significance is explained by the passage in St. John's Gospel (xv. 1-5) 

 commencing, ' I am the true vine.' Both the dove l and the peacock * 

 are found in combination with the vine and are generally placed sym- 

 metrically in pairs. The dove is usually shown pecking at a bunch 

 of grapes. 



The facts just stated enable us to elucidate the meaning of the sym- 

 bolism of the fonts of the Winchester type in Hampshire. The vine forms 

 the chief motive of the decoration of the font at St. Mary Bourne, and it is 

 interesting to observe that the treatment corresponds almost exactly with 

 that of the font at Montdidier, near Amiens in France, except that in the 

 latter case the significance of the symbolism of the vine is made still more 

 clear by placing a figure of Christ giving the benediction in the centre. 

 These two fonts afford a remarkable instance of the transformations 

 produced by successive copying. The bunches of grapes being the most 

 essential feature have degenerated least, whilst the leaves are so highly 

 conventionalized as to be altogether unlike the reality. The bunches 

 of grapes, although not sufficiently pointed at the ends, can be easily 

 recognized. 



The pair of doves pecking at a bunch of grapes in the central 

 medallion of the east side of the Winchester font may be taken to mean 

 the souls of the faithful obtaining spiritual nourishment from Christ 

 the true vine. The pair of doves drinking from a vase on the top and 

 one of the sides of the St. Mary Bourne font, and the pair of doves 

 drinking from a vase surmounted by a cross on the tops of the fonts 

 at Winchester, East Meon and Montdidier mean the souls of the 

 faithful obtaining spiritual nourishment from the fountain of life 3 at 

 baptism or from the chalice when receiving the sacrament of the 

 Mass. The symbol of a pair of doves drinking from a vase is extremely 

 rare in Norman sculpture in England, the only other example besides 

 those just mentioned being on a sepulchral slab in Bishopstone * church, 

 Sussex. 



The font in Porchester church is of an entirely different kind to 

 those of the Winchester type. It is cylindrical and is ornamented 

 round the lower part with intersecting Norman arcading and round 

 the top with a band of beautiful foliage having figures of men, beasts, 



1 Dr. J. S. Northcote's Epitaphs of the Catacombs, p. 162 ; Dean Burgon's Letters from Rome, p. 233. 

 Many of the pre- Norman crosses of Northumbria are decorated with vine scrolls and birds pecking at the 

 bunches of grapes. 



* On the ambone from the church of S. Salvatore, Brescia (R. Cattaneo's Architecture in Italy, 

 p. I Ji), and on the ivory chair of Maximian at Ravenna (R. Garrucci's Storia dell' A tie Cristiana, vol. vi. 

 pis. 414-23). 



8 See representations of the mystic fountain in the baptistery at Salona already mentioned and in 

 the Gospels of Charlemagne in the National Library in Paris (Auguste Molinier's Les Manuscrits et let 

 Miniatures, p. 121, after Count Bastard). The Fountain of Life, which in the baptistery at Salona in 

 Dalmatia is shown flowing from a two-handled vase, is in other mosaics of the sixth century symbolized 

 by the four rivers of paradise flowing from the foot of a small mountain surmounted by the cross or by 

 the Agnus Dei. The symbolism of the mystic fountain is explained by the decoration and the inscrip- 

 tion in Greek, ' Drink water with joy,' on an early Christian leaden cup from Tunis, illustrated in Dr. 

 E. L. Cult's History of Early Christian Art, p. 331. 



4 Allen's Christian SymboKsm, p. 333. 



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