moment when He turns the water into wine. In this representation of the story, Christ

does not perform the miracle with the thaumaturgical wand that was used in the early

iconography of the miracle.30 IHStead, Christ uses the gesture of benediction. In front of

the table there are six vases. These six vases found their way into the iconography of the

wedding feast at Cana probably as a literal interpretation of the Gospel of John.31

Nevertheless, these vases have also been identified as representing the six ages of man

before the coming of Christ (Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, Jacob, and John the Baptist),

or as the six ages of life (infancy, childhood, adolescence, youth, adulthood, and old

age).32 The scene is accompanied by three sets of inscriptions. The first inscription, Hic

nuptie architriclini (here the wedding of the cupbearer), is located over the guests and the

bride and groom. The second inscription, hic ihs conuertit aquamn in vinum (here Christ

transforms the water into wine), is located above the Virgin Mary and Christ. Both

inscriptions are written on top of the pencil rulings. The third inscription, hic ydrie sex

posite (here he puts six water pots), is located at the right of the scene, next to the left leg

of the cupbearer and it is written rather freehandedly. However, the inscriptions identified

the scenes erroneously.33 The first inscription points out that this was the wedding of

Architriclinus, when in fact, the actual Latin word "architriclinus" means cupbearer. This

30 Schiller, G., Iconoguraphy of Christian~it~t~it~i~it~i Art, 1972, p. 162.

31 JOhn 2:6 "And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the
purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins a piece." So it seems that the six
waterpots have more to do with the ceremonial rites of purification that with any
metaphorical representation, as other scholars have suggested.

32 Maria Rodriguez Velasco, "Iconografia del Nuevo Testamento en la Biblia de Avila,"
1999, p. 356.

33 Rodriguez Velasco, M., "Iconografia del Nuevo Testamento en la Biblia de Avila,"
1999, p. 355.