caltechtli (Osu12v)

This painting from the Codex Osuna, folio 12 verso (or Image 27), shows a wall (caltechtli). It is an iconographic example from a painted scent, included here for the purpose of making comparisons with Nahuatl hieroglyphs. This wall appears in a bird’s eye view. The wall is in an L-shape. Three layers of what are probably gray adobe bricks appear to comprise the wall, although there may have been additional layers that are not shown. Within the L-shape of the wall, against which they had been whipped, two men lie on the ground. They both have white cotton capes that are tied at the shoulder. They both carry a staff of office, suggesting that they are members of the Indigenous town council. Their posture is not the usual dignified one, but rather shows how they had fallen after their whipping at the hands of the Spaniard, Dr. Vasco de Puga, who appears in the contextualizing image, attacking the topile (constable) Miguel Chichimecatl.