A hidden pearl
What little historical information we have indicates that Xocchel, a village in central Yucatan, 50 km (31 miles) from Merida, whose Maya name means “counting jaybirds”, was part of the Ah Kin Chel lordship in pre-Hispanic times, and in the 18th century was held by the encomenderos Catalina Guerrero y Ulibarri and María Enríquez de Novoa.
There are also few precise details regarding the date of construction of the main symbol of its vice-regal past, and one of its greatest treasures: the church of St. John the Baptist, a soberly beautiful building too often overlooked when it comes to recommending tourist attractions in Yucatan.
The church houses a true gem of Peninsular cultural-religious heritage: the beautiful main reredos of St. John the Baptist, an 18th-century work of art by an unknown artist. It is of wood, and measures 5m by 10m (16.5 x 33 ft). The style is Baroque, and the color palette includes shades of red, green, blue and gold.
The iconography is contained in eight panels with relief depictions of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Family and the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as a niche at the bottom holding a statue of the Baptist, patron of the community.
Nancy Coronado Guajardo, a restorer with the INAH and coordinator of the reredos diagnostic and preservation project in 2017, says that the inscription “Diaz, 1883, May 25th” was found on the piece, but since researchers have established that several reredoses in the region were rennovated or repainted in the late 19th century, it is impossible to know whether this date refers to construction and the original artist, or to a later intervention.
This jewel of sacred art consists of three rows, a pediment, and three vertical sections. The base is of plain masonry, while the predella has a molded architrave and a frieze divided into panels and decorated with volutes and acanthus leaves. The lateral projections have the same acanthus leaf and rinceau motifs, while the moulded cornice is wide and projected.
In the center of the first row is a semi-cylindrical niche topped with a grooved and lobed quarter-sphere, containing the statue of John the Baptist. There is a gilt frame, and it is flanked by two estipite columns.
The lateral sections contain reliefs of St. Luke, on the left, and St. Matthew on the right. Their frames are decorated with acanthus leaves, while below are panels decorated with acanthus leaves, rinceaux and volutes. There is an estipite column on either side.
To the sides of the first and second rows there is a narrow wing decorated with acanthus leaves. The entablature is divided in the center by the gilt niche, with only the cornice being continuous; the architrave is simple and moulded; the frieze is decorated with the same motif of rinceaux, acanthus and volutes; the projections also have the same acanthus motif; and the projecting dentate cornice is wide and moulded.
The second row has relief carvings in each of its three sections: to the left, St. Joseph, in the center, the Risen Christ, and to the right the Virgin Mary. The frames are decorated as those below, and flanked with the same estipite columns. At the bottom is a narrow facing decorated with fretwork. The entablature is complete, and the same as that of the lower level.
The central section of the third level contains a larger relief than the ones at the sides, representing God the Father. It has the same frame as the other panels, with shorter estipite columns to the sides holding up a narrower entablature similar to those already described, but with rosettes and acanthus leaves decorating the frieze.
There is a relief carving in each of the side panels: St. Mark to the left and St. John to the right. They have the same frame, within a moulded, curved outline. The facings are decorated with acanthus leaves and rosettes, while to the sides are small projections in the form of an inverted heart.
The pediment is moulded in the form of a rounded arch, with a panel in the center containing an image of the Holy Spirit as a Dove, with a rosette to either side..
The iconography of the reredos in Xocchel church is very interesting, quite clear, and unique, despite the fact that, in the opinion of the specialist Fernando Garcés Fierros, there was apparently a relief carving where the central niche on the first level now is, and its absence changes the sense of the iconographic group and original structure of the reredos.
In spite of this, Garcés points out, the reredos is one of the most remarkable examples of popular vice-regal art in Yucatan.
The church of St. John the Baptist in Xocchel can be visited any day of the week during the times of religious services.
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