A smooth and circular plate with a wide and high stepped edge, a slightly concave recipient with a central holder comprising of 24 radial gallones and relieved around a smooth platform that serves as pedestal to the holder, provided with nail head in the middle that fits into the eyelet at the bottom of the basket. With a cambered recess to couple on the handle of the cup intended for the chocolate, the holder is worked in silver plate and engraved with leaves and stems in a rhythm of winding rinceaux that converge on the other side of the recess in an open rose. Its petals are trimmed by an elliptical plate which is superimposed in its center and, following the widespread custom of record the name of the owner of the piece, it carries the incised initial M.A.O. As is customary, the mancerina is incomplete, since neither the cup nor the gourd bowl that were part of the set have been preserved.
These pieces have been widespread in Mexico since the eighteenth century, the mancerina consisted of a central or circular well in the center where the gourd bowl, small vessel, usually earthenware, that was used for drinking chocolate was placed and secured.
Its sleek design and the elegance of the lines, evident in its structural beauty and the enclosure of the adornment, combined with spiral wreathes worked with mechanical means runs along the edges of the plate, and the well and calligraphy with the English cursive initials, speaks to us of a work conceived within the neoclassical mid-nineteenth century. Parallel specimens have been classified by Professor Esteras at the Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico, at the National Museum of History, in the ancient collection of Lawrence Anderson and that of Salvador Ugarte, all tested by Cayetano Buitron within his period in office (1823 and 1843)[1].
The piece could date back to the second quarter of the nineteenth century, although due to its characteristics we venture to place it around 1830-1850. The absence of marks and the differences observed in the edge, in the rounded frame of the seat and the basket which were inlaid without cast figurative reliefs, could correspond to workmanship outside of the capital, perhaps in the city of Puebla itself.
[1]. Cf. Valle-Arizpe, 1941: fig. 115. I and III; Anderson, 1941: volume II, fig. 163; Esteras Martín, 1989: pp. 374-375, no. 123; and 1992: pp. 324-325, no. 147; and AA VV, 1997: pp. 316-317, no. 167-168.
Sources:
AA VV, Tesoros de México. Oro precolombino y plata virreinal, Sevilla, Fundación El Monte, 1997.
Anderson, Lawrence, El arte de la platería en México, 1519-1936, Nueva York, Oxford University, 1941.
Valle Arizpe, Artemio de, Notas de Platería, México, Polis, 1941.
Esteras Martín, Cristina, “Platería virreinal novohispana. Siglos XVI-XIX”, en El arte de la platería mexicana. 500 años, México, Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo, 1989.
_____, La platería del Museo Franz Mayer. Obras escogidas. Siglos XVI-XIX, México, Museo Franz Mayer, 1992.
