atzcalli (FCbk11f64v)

atzcalli (FCbk11f64v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This iconographic example, featuring a freshwater clam (atzcalli), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the text near the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows the clam as horizontal, not fully closed. An animal (the clam in the flesh) is partially coming out of the shell, with its head and arms showing. The use of three-dimensionality here suggests European artistic influence in the tlacuilo.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The creatures that live in seashells are sometimes shown poking out from the shells. This seems to be a reminder that there are edible critters inside the shells. See an example of a conch, below, with its living being emerging.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

atzcalli

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)
Date of Manuscript: 

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals: Misc.
Food, Eating, Cooking
Marine, Maritime, Lacustrine
Shells
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
gray
white/neutral
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
three-dimensionality
Other Cultural Influences: 
Spanish/European
Keywords: 

animal acuático, animales acuáticos, a sea creature, atlan nemini

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

atzcal(li), a seashell, a freshwater clam, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atzcalli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

la almeja de agua dulce

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 11: Earthly Things", fol. 64v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/64v/images/0 Accessed 16 October 2025.

Image Source, Rights: 

Images of the digitized Florentine Codex are made available under the following Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International). For print-publication quality photos, please contact the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana ([email protected]). The Library of Congress has also published this manuscript, using the images of the World Digital Library copy. “The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse.”

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

tecciztli (FCbk11f64r)