chiquihuitl (MH486v)

chiquihuitl (MH486v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the noun basket (chiquihuitl) is a rectangle with many small diamonds that convey a number of woven reeds.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Date of Manuscript:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 486v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=52&st=image.

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

This manuscript is hosted by the Library of Congress and the World Digital Library; used here with the Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SAq 3.0).

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Plants, Flora

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

diamond shape(s)

rectangular

woven

Keywords:

baskets, canastas, cestas

Museum & Rare Book Comparisons:

Museum/Rare Book Notes:

The signage at the museum of Guachiontones notes that this chiquhuitl is made from carrizo (a Spanish term for a type of reed or cane). Such baskets came in a number of shapes and probably were produced wherever the cane grows and distributed widely. The gourd (a bule, in Spanish) next to the basket, with its cord tie, is worth noting, too. Photo by S. Wood, 16 April 2025.

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

chiquihuitl, basket, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chiquihuitl-0.

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 486v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=52&st=image.

Image Source, Rights:

This manuscript is hosted by the Library of Congress and the World Digital Library; used here with the Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SAq 3.0).