cozcatl (FCbk2f89v)

cozcatl (FCbk2f89v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This painting of a necklace (cozcatl) with a red heart as a pendant is included here as an example of the iconography of a heart necklace. It is not a glyph, per se. The heart hangs in a frontal view from a white tie, perhaps a leather thong. The person wearing it is male, bare-chested, wears round white ear plugs, and has dark curly, tousled hair.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

A religious ceremony is the context for this image. As of June 2025, this is the first necklace in this digital collection that shows a heart as a pendant on a necklace. For other examples of necklaces, such as those made of corncobs, shells, flowers, bells, and the most common, beads, see below. The vulture, cozcacuauhtli, is often portrayed as an eagle wearing a necklace, but this is not an actual necklace. There is no gloss for this item, but we are accepting the reading that is given in the image keywords by the Getty Research Institute.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Gender (male)

Jewelry, Crowns, or other Adornment

Leather, hides

Religion (Indigenous)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

red

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

tied, bound, or bundled

Keywords:

collar, collares, corazón, corazones, religión indígena

Museum/Rare Book/Realia Comparisons:

Museum/Rare Book/Realia Notes:

This 12-ton monolith of the female divine force, Tlaltecuhtli, was discovered in 2006 at the Templo Mayor. Signage says it relates to the cycle of destruction and rebirth. Divine forces of darkness on Earth and in the underworld, typically have curly hair, also according to the signage. Photograph by Stephanie Wood, Museo del Templo Mayor, Mexico City, 15 February 2023.

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

cozca(tl), necklace, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cozcatl-0

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el collar

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 2: The Ceremonies", fol. 89v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/2/folio/89v/images/db1270d5-90... Accessed 19 June 2025.

Image Source, Rights:

Images of the digitized Florentine Codex are made available under the following Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International). For print-publication quality photos, please contact the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana ([email protected]). The Library of Congress has also published this manuscript, using the images of the World Digital Library copy. “The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse.”

Historical Contextualizing Image: