Actopan / Actopán

Described and illustrated in MacGregor (1955), who notes that although the enormous basin is said to have been carved out of a single piece of stone, in his opinion it appears to consist of pieces of masonry coated with stucco painted abright red both inside and out; the upper rim is made up of moulded blocks held together by an iron band; the low-dome cover is made of wood, and the statue of St. John the Baptist is described as being of poor quality [="pobre calidad"]. Illustrated in Ballesteros García (2000): a large circular font shaped like a squat gobblet is raised on a short base and a two-step plinth, all of them round. It is white-washed all over and appears plain except for a round moulding where the basin meets the upper base. It has a very large wooden cover with three articulated gull-wing windows and the figure of John the Baptist atop as finial. [NB: although devoid of any figural ornamentation, and with the lid on, its shape resembles somewhat a front view of the beautiful medieval font at Provins, France]