cuauhtli (Mdz22r)

cuauhtli (Mdz22r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for cuauhtli (eagle) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Cuauhquemecan. The eagle is represented here only by its head, covered in brownis gray feathers (with a lighter color closer to its face, almost a lavender). The head is in profile, looking to our right, with its yellow beak slightly open.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The "cuauh" stem is reiterated in the compound glyph from which this element derives. The quemitl) (ritual bib) that hangs in front of the tepetl) (hill, mountain) consists of brown eagle feathers.

Source Manuscript: 
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
Syntax: 
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Shapes and Perspectives: 
Keywords: 

eagles, heads, águilas, feathers, plumas

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 22 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 54 of 188.

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).