Some Remarks on the Primary Purpose of the Two Late Roman Cracow Stoups

Abstract

In the western porch of Lady’s church there are two almost identical tin stoups in the shape of wash--boiler resting on three lion paws. The only thing that enlivens the smooth plains of the vessels is two stripes of inscription written in capital letters.

The two stoups have been mentioned in various documents, as to the date when they were made. It is assumed that come from the end of the eighteenth or the beginning of the nineteenth century.

None of the researchers took interest in the fact that those two metal stoups have been preserved in one church, and they both come from the times when cast stoups were an exception. One can assume then one of the stoups primarily played the function of a font. It was no longer a font in the second half of the fourteenth century after a bronze font by Ulricus had been put into the sanctuary.

One question is left to be answered as to where the above-mentioned stoups were made. It is highly probable that they were made in Cracow by a founder who came from nothern Germany. Numerous analogies point to his origin, since there are very similar stoups in nothern Germany, in Eddelack and Nordled. The former comes from the end of the twelfth and the latter from the eighteenth century.