chalchihuitl (TK220r)

This painted example of the iconography of cultural jade or green stone (chalchihuitl) shows two rectangular pieces that decorate a piece of jewelry that mimics a golden chest (“caja” in the Spanish-language gloss, but this was also a word taken into Nahuatl). The rectangular chest has twelve small bells hanging from the bottom and a loop with a red (perhaps leather) tie at the top. Many of these pieces of jewelry were probably made to be worn, as the movement of the body would cause the bells to jingle. Chalchihuitl was perhaps as precious as gold. Its color, like blue, reminded people of water, essential for life. These jadeite pieces (called “esmeraldas,” or emeralds, in the Spanish-language gloss) appear on the front of the golden chest, flanking what appears to be a flower with four pointed petals alternating with four rounded petals. The center of this possible flower consists of two, small, concentric circles. The chest appears to have a lid, but the chalchihuitl pieces would seem to keep the lid from opening, overlapping as they do between the chest and its lid. The chest is also trimmed with borders that have a red design of half-diamonds and, inside the diamonds, half-flowers.