The iconography of Darenth Font
The writer has taken an interest in Darenth font for upwards o thirty-five years, ever since he first knew the excellent outline drawingi of Mr. J. Romilly Allen in his Christian Symbolism, where all the subjects are illustrated. There is, however, no adequate description in this book. The font is tub-shaped, bevelled and moulded at the top anc bottom. Its diameter is three feet, its height two feet three inches The separate base is not ancient. The ornament consists of an arcad< of eight engaged arches, whose faces are 1| inches wide ; seven of thess are flat, and the eighth bears a slight decoration as described below Each arch encloses a subject. In the spandrels between the arches an alternate circular and octagonal bosses. Some have the additiona ornament of a ring of pellets, and others a sketchy whorl pattern. Th material is Caen stone.
I now take the sculpture in each panel, beginning with the easterr face, and following a clockwise direction. Afterwards each separate subject will be discussed.
a.
Plate Id.
Plate 116 & c. [pg7]The Darenth baptism has no connection with the Nativity, which is sometimes accompanied by a vessel indistinguishable from a font. In a tenth century Byzantine ivory panel at the British Museum there is a scene in the foreground of which is seated a very pensive St. Joseph, [pg8]while a midwife is bathing the child in a two-handled vessel which is not unlike a font. A carving on the west front of Notre Dame, Poitiers, much resembles the ivory panel. It represents the Child in a vessel indistinguishable from a chalice font; He has a cruciform nimbus and is attended by women on each side of Him. St. Joseph rests his face on his hand as in the Byzantine ivory.
In the disposition and form of the Darenth baptism a certain rhythm or balance of parts is noticeable ; the heads of the larger figures, their arms, their shoulders and their legs are in such rough correspondence that dependence on some external ornamental form is suggested. Dr. Baltrusaitis has shown with penetration and lucidity many of the secrets of Romanesque sculpture and ornament. Romanesque ornament is always subservient to the claims of architectural construction ; it is never allowed to be a mere encrustation of the fabric. And further, the attitudes which figure sculptures assume are very often based on some established ornamental design. Most of the Darenth carvings give the impression of being carefully accommodated to their architectural setting, whilst the baptismal scene in particular appears to follow the main lines of the common palmette motif. In his studies of twelfth century detail, the writer has been astonished to find how very close the connection is between the palmette, and carvings of human beings, animals or birds. The three pairs of doves on the Tournai black marble font at Winchester Cathedral are a clear example of palmette arrangement. Dr. Baltrusaitis has followed up in a fascinating manner the influence of this and of other floral forms even on the splendid Romanesque tympana of France. "
Plate IIIc. [pg9]The griffin is compounded of an eagle and a lion, and is frequently given in the medieval Bestiaries as a type of the devil, who is as strong to carry away human souls, as the griffin is to fly off with the largest creatures. The ornament of the arch over the griffin panel is worthy of examination and comment. In the pre-Norman period this form of the step ornament cannot have- been very uncommon. Professor Baldwin Brown in liis Arts and Crafts of our Teutonic Forefathers, illustrates two examples. One is on Pl. XIV, which represents a runic fibula from Charnay, and the other on Pl. XXVII, where it is the chief adornment of a tinned-bronze buckle at Brussels. A monumental example of this special type may be found as far away as Cumberland. Over sixty years ago Canon E. H. Knowles illustrated this ornament on the bases of the rectangular panels on the east and west faces of a tenth century cross at Muncaster. I hear that the design is still recognizable. A cross at Kirk Andreas, Isle of Man, has this motif on the base and sides.
While the step ornament in its Darenth form is probably unique for the first half of the twelfth century, yet other varieties of this same motif are not uncommon on capitals and hood-moulds in Norman work. We find it, for instance, on the capitals of three Norman doorways at Stow in Lincolnshire, and also on the hood-mould of the north doorway of Stewldey in Buckinghamshire. The nave arches at St. Margaret’s- at-Cliffe have excellent step work on their hood-moulds too. In all these latter examples the ornament consists of two flights of steps, one up and one down, repeated at will. On the capitals of the Norman south doorway of Bulley, Gloucestershire, the steps are repeated, upside down. Probably all these forms have then- origin in Teutonic jewellery where the cloisons or compartments are constantly outlined in this way.
[pg10]of the two enemies is carved ; but elsewhere as at Darenth the Sagittarius is attacking a griffin or a monster.
This article could hardly have been written -without the help of the writer’s old friend, Mr. G. C. Druce, F.S.A. He has been most helpful with suggestions, and also with the loan of two of his photographs which had to be taken by flashlight. Miss Mary Fair, D.Sc., has most kindly paid a special visit to Muncaster to ascertain whether the step pattern can still be found on the cross there. She is of the opinion that it is only on the west face, and that the ornament on the east face is a chain motif.
Books specially referred to :
La stylistique ornamentale dans la sculpture romane, par Jurgis Baltrusaitis (Paris, Librairie Ernest Leroux, 1931).
Christian Symbolism in Great Britain and Ireland, by J. Romilly Allen (London, Whiting & Co., 1887).
Arts and Crafts of our Teutonic Forefathers, by G. Baldwin Brown (T. N. Foulis, 1910).
“ Fonts with Representations of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist ”, article by Dr. Fryer in Arch. Journal, LX, 1903.