Caxtillan acalli (FCbk12fir)

This iconographic example, featuring a black and white sketch of a Spanish ship (Caxtillan acalli), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the keywords near the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se, and no related text nearby. This example shows a Spanish ship at anchor in a harbor. The context shows how the invading Spaniards are unloading goods from their ships. Four ships such as this one are visible in the contextualizing image. This ship has three masts, and the sails are furled. A flag or pennant flies from the top of the middle mast. The hull has a shape something like a Nahua canoe, but much larger. A small amount of shading gives this scene some three dimensionality, and the ship is shown in a context of wavy water; these suggest European artistic influence.