cuauhtetepoyo (Mdz20v)

cuauhtetepoyo (Mdz20v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This multicolored painting is an iconographic example for the noun cuauhtetepoyo, a Mexica war shield with an eagle-claw design. Red and white predominate in this shield, but turquoise blue, green, and yellow also appear. Colored feathers were prized for creating some of these works of art, which were apparently also carried onto the battlefields.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Claws and sharp nails were major themes in Nahua artistic design, perhaps for their ability to draw blood. Blood was a vital life force, and it was an offering to the divine forces as a way of pursuing the continuation of life. For another example of the cuauhtetepoyo chimalli, see Marc Thouvenot's vignette that is based on a detail from the Códice Matritense de la Real Academia.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Source Manuscript:

Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)

Date of Manuscript:

by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals: Birds

Art, Design, Crafts, etc.

Blood (human/animal/plant)

Feathers

Weapons, Shields, Armor

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle, circular or rounded

frontal view

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

cuauhtetepoyo, having an eagle claw design, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuauhtetepoyo

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 20 verso, https://codicemendoza.inah.gob.mx/inicio.php?lang=english.

Image Source, Rights:

The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, hold the original manuscript, the MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1. This image is published here under the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0).

Historical Contextualizing Image: