Tecamachalco

Described and illustrated in Reyes-Valerio (2000) as a holy-water stoup [the photograph shows a large hemispherical basin mounted on a round pedestal and a square lower base; it appears large enough to be a baptismal font. There are four protruding figures at the sides, at 90-degree angles (the front one is an angel with an extended hand; there are two bands of foliage motif around the basin sides; the underbowl is plain; the base is squat and has a large centre ring, a roll-moulding. Described and illustrated in Duverger (2003): baptismal font of the late 16th century in the style favoured by the missionaries in Mexico, a style in which the patterns of Christian European religious art mixed with those of the aboriginal cultures and the execution of the works by local artisans. This roughly cylindrical basin is decorated with a rope motif around the upper rim [it may be the Franciscan cingulum, but there is no evidence un the source of the telling knots usually found in some of these motifs, although it is typical in the the direction of the threads of the braid switches direction every few strokes]; two bands of decoration follow down below the rope: the upper band has leaves with intersecting stems; the lower band has rosette-like and other floral symbols very much in the indigenous style; interrupting these bands two large angels face each other across the basin in very deep relief; they are kneeling with their hands in the usual holding position, as if they were presenting the panel of the ornamentation [like the angels holding the mandorla on the side of the basin at Tecali de Herrera -- cf. Index entry for an illustrated example of the Tecali font]. The base is a moulded pedestal on a narrow square plinth. Illustrated in Lara (2008).