chichihualayotl (Osu12v)

This iconographic example comes from the Codex Osuna, folio 12 verso (or Image 27). It is included here for the possible purpose of comparing the details with hieroglyphs. This scene shows a Nahua woman trying to give a baby her breast milk (ichichihualayouh). One of her breasts is exposed. The Spanish official, Dr. Vasco de Puga, who appears in the contextualizing image, is objecting strenuously to the breast milk or the breast feeding. Perhaps it offends his sense of morality to see the breast exposed. He may have some of the breast milk between his hands (note the light turquoise blue color in his hands, which seems to suggest both liquid and preciosity). Note the same color on the nipples of the glyph in the Codex Mendoza, which, incidentally, also refers to an uncomfortable condition on the breasts of a woman (below).