GP 331 Roma kyrka 2

Context and Discovery
The picture stone fragment was re-used as base slab of a medieval baptismal font, similar to GP 3 Alskog kyrka [D], GP 110 Gothem kyrka III [D], GP 233 Levide kyrka 2 [E] and GP 234 Levide kyrka 3 [E]. The font is placed in the north-west corner of the nave, directly in front of the western portal. It is made of red limestone, has a shell-shaped basin and belongs to the ʻparadise fontʼ type. The font was manufactured in the middle of the 13th century, just as the current nave and choir. A preceding church building at the same spot, from which only the sacristy is left, was built during the late 12th century. The font’s foot rests on a circular limestone slab which has a diameter of 117cm, forming the base and step of the baptismal font. This huge and accurately sculptured disc was identified by Böttger-Niedenzu as originating from a tall picture stone in 1984. Böttger-Niedenzu, who submitted her master’s thesis on Gotland’s picture stones to the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich in 1982, went through the Gotlandic rural churches during the years 1981–1985 and discovered not fewer than 38 previously unknown picture stones, which she published in a brief catalogue in 1988. Another picture stone fragment was identified by Böttger-Niedenzu in the floor of the choir (GP 330 Roma kyrka 1).
GP 3 Alskog kyrka
GP0110
GP 233 Levide kyrka 2
GP 234 Levide kyrka 3

Measurements, Material and Condition
The light grey limestone slab is almost perfectly round and disc-shaped, measures 1.17 m in diameter and is about 0.10 m thick. At the north-facing side, however, the circular slab has been trimmed by a straight line (a secant) that intersects the circle and cuts off a small part of the circle). The straight side is 0.37 m long, and the distance between this edge and the most opposite (south) point of the stone disc measures 1.14 m. The stone’s surface was flattened by the medieval stone mason and the bas-relief almost completely obliterated by regular chisel strokes. Furthermore, the surface is worn and smoothed by footsteps. Only the part next to the straight edge in the north side preserves clear remains of the original carvings. No chisel strokes are visible here. Apparently, the surface was not reworked in this area for some reason. Perhaps the baptismal font once stood next to a wall, with the straight edge of the circular base slab placed directly against the wall. In this case, the ornament in the edge area would have been almost inaccessible.

Description of Ornament and Images
Some remains of an interlace pattern are clearly visible next to the north-facing edge of the disc-shaped slab, on the small surface area between the straight edge and the foot of the baptismal font (Oehrl 2019a, pl. 21a). This pattern was surely part of a border decoration.

Interpretation of the Imagery
No interpretation

Type and Dating
The interlace element cannot be reconstructed completely; however, it seems to be a pattern typical for border decorations in Lindqvist’s ʻAbschnittʼ C and D, which means the stone can be roughly dated between the 8th century or around AD 800 and the 10th century.

References
Böttger-Niedenzu 1988, p. 12; Oehrl 2019a, p. 40. pl. 21a; Oehrl 2020a, pp. 81–82.

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