coztic teocuitlapitzqui (Mdz70r)

coztic teocuitlapitzqui (Mdz70r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This example of iconography from the Codex Mendoza shows a silversmith making objects of gold worker. He sits on a woven mat (petlatl) facing a three-legged container with a fire, where he is crafting objects in gold. Red and yellow flames shoot upward. A round disc that serves as the glyph for gold (teocuitlatl) appears on the edge of the container and at the front of the vessel.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

platero.

Gloss Normalization:

platero

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)

Date of Manuscript:

c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Fire, Tobacco, Incense, Smoke

Gender (male)

Metals, Minerals, Mining

Occupations

Technology (all types), plus Tools

Keywords:

oro, plata, oficios, metales preciosos

Museum & Rare Book Comparisons:

Museum/Rare Book Notes:

These hammered gold discs come from Michoacan. The round shape coincides with the round shape of the gold in the iconographic example above, even if the designs in the circles vary Copper was more common in Michoacan, but goldworking was known and some techniques were apparently learned from Ecuador and Peru. Hammering gold was more common than melting it. Museo Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Sala 10. Photo by S. Wood, 30 April 2025.

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

coztic teocuitlapitzqui, a silver worker who works gold, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coztic-teocuitlapitzqui
teocuitlapitzqui, a silversmith, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teocuitlapitzqui
coztic, something red, yellow, or gold, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coztic
coztic teocuitlatl, gold, yellow gold, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coztic-teocuitlatl
coztic teocuitlacozca(tl), a gold gem, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coztic-teocuitlacozcatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

platero

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 70 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 150 of 188.

Image Source, Rights:

Original manuscript is held by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1; used here with the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0)