caja (CST31)
This painting of the simplex glyph for the term caja (here spelled caxa, “chest,” a loanword from Spanish that entered Nahuatl) shows what looks something like an old-fashioned briefcase with a locking strap. The top bends over, curving. What looks like a strap may actually be a metal handle, as it is dark gray. The lock, gray too, is also probably metal. The container is white with red trim. The companion text explains that this is a small (tepicin, i.e., tepitzin) chest where holy oil (olio) and chrism (crisma) are kept.
Stephanie Wood
For more on the Codex Sierra, see Kevin Terraciano’s study (2021), especially p. 154, for his translation of the relevant text. See glyphs below for other examples of boxes or containers.
Stephanie Wood
ce caxa
ce caja
Stephanie Wood
1550–1564
Jeff Haskett-Wood
cajas, cerraduras, aceite, santo óleo
caja, chest, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/caja
caja
Stephanie Wood
Códice Sierra-Texupan, plate 31, page dated 1560. Origin: Santa Catalina Texupan, Mixteca Alta, State of Oaxaca. Kevin Terraciano has published an outstanding study of this manuscript (Codex Sierra, 2021), and in his book he refers to alphabetic and “pictorial” writing, not hieroglyphic writing. We are still counting some of the imagery from this source as hieroglyphic writing, but we are also including examples of “iconography” where the images verge on European style illustrations or scenes showing activities. We have this iconography category so that such images can be fruitfully compared with hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphic writing was evolving as a result of the influence of European illustrations, and even alphabetic writing impacted it.
https://bidilaf.buap.mx/objeto.xql?id=48281&busqueda=Texupan&action=search
The Biblioteca Digital Lafragua of the Biblioteca Histórica José María Lafragua in Puebla, Mexico, publishes this Códice Sierra-Texupan, 1550–1564 (62pp., 30.7 x 21.8 cm.), referring to it as being in the “Public Domain.” This image is published here under a Creative Commons license, asking that you cite the Biblioteca Digital Lafragua and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs.
