Portable solar-style monstrance set on four s cast in the shape of an inverted pear. It has an ovoid base with a protruding rim. The base is divided into two areas by a smooth step, the lower part of the convex profile has a border of interwoven acanthus with opposing and pointed smaller leaves. The upper part is shaped like a truncated cone and arranged into four sections separated by lengthened ridges. The pieces contain symbols from the Eucharist and the ion on clouds, with beams of light or bursts that descend from the heavens (except for the rays that emanate from the Lamb of God), between opposing branches of vine shoots and leaves and ears of wheat. Resting on the book of the Seven Seals, the center shows the Agnus Dei, whose formation in high relief demonstrates its symbolic protagonism. Meanwhile, the sides show representations of the wash basin and whips; the stairs, the crown of thorns pierced by the spear with a sponge, the nails, the hammer and the dice. The back is reserved for the cross, a halberd and a cane.
As was standard for Mexican chalices and monstrances at the turn of the nineteenth century, the base hides the internal mounting of the piece through a lid or decorated plate, screwed onto the base through the four piriform feet that hold it off the ground. The surface is slightly convex; it is decorated with a large octopetala and central rosette in relief, surrounded by an exterior band with a winding vine shoot with vine leaves linked together. The stem is short and baluster style. It has convex and cylindrical bodies and molding, rings and tours, smooth, with laurels and acanthus in relief, with corded borders or with die cut edges. A conical vase knot, followed by a drum and double neck configured by two superimposed truncated cones, the lower part of the concave sides. A shining sun with different length rays come together to create an oval shape. These surround the case, which is small in diameter compared to the sun; there is a laurel wreath, the lower part surrounded by a glory of clouds in the shape of a half moon. The final touch is a florenzada cross. The author skillfully plays with burnishing and reliefs together, combining, according to the taste in Mexican silverware for color effects, smooth and gilded areas with backgrounds punctured with natural silver, as well as contrasting volumes with high and low relief.
This type of solar monstrance completely follows the model created in Mexico by the academic Neoclassicism or "Tolsa style” during the first third of the nineteenth century, defined by the oblong-shaped base and sun, whose lower rays are longer [1]. In of its timeline, the two monstrance of this type at the Franz Mayer Museum (Mexico City) have been dated between 1800-1835. While one of the examples in the National Viceroyalty Museum (Tepotzotlan) is dated at 1835. However, custodias made during the time of the assayers Forcada (1790-1818) and Davila (1819-1823) have circular bases without emblems[2], which is why we chose a later date for the Amparo Museum's custodia; around 1830. It does not have any marking and there is no information about its place of origin, given that its abbreviated inscription only makes a brief reference, in our opinion, to its ownership or belonging to a church devoted to the Archangel Michael, whose location is omitted.
Despite its prototypical and standardized features, the form of the conical knot vase establishes, nevertheless, marked differences with known examples from Mexico City or other parts of the country, with knots in form of a heart or double superimposed bases and iconographic symbols taken from the Old Testament rather than the ion of Christ. Therefore, the possibility that it was made by silversmiths from outside the capital, for example in Puebla, cannot be ruled out. The absence of any regulatory marking s this second hypothesis.
[1]. Cf. Esteras Martin, 1991: page 421, nº 193; 1992: pages 311-314, nº 136 and 137; AA VV, 1999: page 132, OR/155, and page 144, OR/170; Valle-Arizpe, 1941: fig. 27 C; Anderson, 1941, II: fig. 111; and AA VV, 1994: page 192, nº 212.
[2]. Cf. Iglesias Rouco, 1991: pages 89-90 and 93; AA VV, 1992: pages 169-170, nº 6.6 and 6.7; Heredia Moreno and Orbe Sivatte, 1992: pages 126, nº 76; Esteras Martin, 1994: page 38; AA VV, 1994: page 102, nº 211; and AA VV, 1999: page 121, OR/132, and page 139, OR/163.
Sources:
AA VV, Arte americanista en Castilla y Leon, Valladolid, Junta de Castilla y Leon, 1992.
AA VV, La Plateria Mexicana, Mexico, INAH, 1994.
AA VV, Plateria Novohispana. National Viceroyalty Museum. Tepotzotlan, Alma Montero (Coord.), Mexico, Asociación de Amigos del Museo Nacional del Virreinato, 1999.
Anderson, Lawrence,El arte de la plateria en Mexico, 1519-1936, New York, Oxford University, 1941.
Valle Arizpe, Artemio de, Notas de Plateria, Mexico, Polis, 1941.
Esteras Martin, Cristina, “La plata en la iglesia", in Mexico. Esplendores de treinta siglos, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1991, pages 392-491.
_____, La plateria del Museo Franz Mayer. Obras escogidas. Siglos XVI-XIX, Mexico, Museo Franz Mayer, 1992.
_____, “Plata labrada mexicana en España. Del Renacimiento al neoclasicismo”, inMexico en el Mundo de las colecciones de Arte. Nueva España 2, Mexico, Grupo Azabache, 1994.
Heredia Moreno y Asuncion, Maria del Carmen, and Mercedes de Orbe Sivatte, Arte Hispanoamericano en Navarra. Plata, pintura y escultura, Pamplona, Gobierno de Navarra, 1992.
Iglesias Rouco, Lena S., Plateria Hispanoamericana en Burgos, Burgos, Caja de Ahorros Municipal de Burgos, 1991.
