Zinacantepec

Noted with an illustration in Romero Quiroz (1967), who reproduces the inscription and describes the medallion-inscribed scenes as: Annunciation, Flight to Egypt, Baptism of Christ, and St. Michael fighting the dragon [cf. infra for other interpretations]. Romero Quiroz (ibid.) notes interesting parallels with the native iconography from Teotenango, Monte Alban, Malinalco, etc. Monolithic baptismal font of the late 16th century; the hemispherical basin has a rope moulding [Franciscan rope-belt] at the upper rim; right below it an inscription in Nahuatl states that the font was made in 1581 at the request of Fr. Martin de Aguirre; there are four large medallion motifs at 90-degree angles on the basin sides; the medallions contain Biblical themes: 1)Annunciation; 2)Flight to Egypt or St. Martin of Tours; 3)Baptism of Christ; 4)St. Michael fighting the Devil. The font is described as a contribution of the indigenous art, "tequitqui" art [cf. the Museum's EDOMEXICO web site and Reyes-Valerio (1968) and (2000). Reyes-Valerio (ibid.) suggests that its "barbarismo" identifies it as the work of apprentices and, in his article (1968) he quotes from the Memoriales of Fr. Toribio de Benavente [aka Metolinia] [d. 1568] that these fonts were made by carvers of the towns themselves, and not by peninsular ones ["porque en cada pueblo hay buenos maestros, que no esperan á canteros vizcainos que se las labren"]. The font is mentioned in Maquívar (2001) as "monumental". Studied in Cosentino (2003) with references to Reyes-Valerio's 1968 article. Cosentino, however, differs in the interpretation of one of the medallions from Reyes-Valerio: she offers that it is not the Flight to Egypt which is represented on it, but the well-known of St. Martin of Tours sharing his cape with the indigent [NB: the image on the medallion matches the common representation of St. Martin: the horseman is turned to the figure on foot and holds the cape and what appears to be a knife or sword in his hands, and the horse's head is turned backwards as well; moreover, there is no baby present, the whole scene is projected backwards, rather than forwards, as would be expected in a Flight-to-Egypt representation, giving Cosentino a more likely lead in the interpretation of this scene]. [NB: a holy-water stoup (?) of similar origin is located next to the font, but it is not known whether it is originally from the entrance of the church, or if it was meant to use as an ancillary object to the baptismal font]. [NB: the www.ciudadenlinea.net entry for Toluca lists a copy of the Zinacantepec font in the Museo de Bellas Artes, Toluca]