Baptismal font at St Bartholomew's Church, Liège

The Meuse river valley in modern Belgium and France, roughly coterminous with the Diocese of Liège, was the leading 12th-century centre of Romanesque metalwork, which was still the most prestigious medium in art.

[1] These dates are based on the period of office of the Abbé Hellin, parish priest of the church, known to have commissioned it, for in his obituary in the contemporary Chronicon Rythmicum Leodiense (English: Liège Rhyming Chronicle) the font is clearly described, though with no mention of the artist.

The only other work generally agreed to be by the same master as the font is a small bronze crucifix (Schnütgen Museum, Cologne);[10] another in Brussels has many similarities.

[17] In support of the Byzantine origin theory, analysis of the lead in 1993 has shown that it came from mines in Spain or Sardinia, whereas other Mosan works used locally sourced metal.

The font sat on twelve oxen (two are now missing), who emerged from a stone plinth, a reference to the "molten sea... on twelve oxen" cast in bronze for Solomon's temple[22] The five scenes shown, identified by Latin inscriptions ("tituli") on the rim above and in the image field, can be read in chronological sequence:[23][24] Except for the last two the scenes are separated by trees which are stylised in typical Romanesque fashion, but whose leaf shapes are all different.

[31] While the baptism of Jesus is very commonly depicted in Early Medieval art, those of the other figures are very rare subjects indeed,[32] and this unusually elaborate and learned programme was no doubt composed with clerical assistance.