Yanhuitlan

Illustrated in Gorbea Trueba (1962). Probably the most original baptismal font of the early colonial period in Mexico, its rarety being related to the shape of the base, a variation of the classical five-support so common on many early fonts; the central shaft is roughly cylindrical, with torsade pattern covering the sides between the round mouldings at top and bottom; the variance is in the outer colonnettes which, in this case take the shape of four semi-arches set at 90-degree angles, and consisting of monstruous heads at the top devouring reptile tubular bodies that make the stems and bases of the colonnettes; the contrast between the classical Western European element of the central shaft with the life-like dynamism of the outer colonnettes is very striking; the basin itself is hemispherical to the upper basin levbel where it splays outwards; the sides are decorated with foliage on the underbowl and lower sides up to a thin moulding, then a narrow band of the same foliage pattern to the next moulding, and lastly another narrow band of leafy pattern of a different shape to the upper rim moulding; there is damage to one of the sides of the upper rim [related perhaps to the anchoring hardware of the cover?]. [We are grateful to professor Mónica Domínguez, of the Dept. of Art History, University of Delaware, for her images of this font]