enamacac (tlahueliloc) (FCbk10f48r)

This iconographic example, featuring a “bad” woman bean seller (tlahueliloc enamacac), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the text on the page prior to the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows a woman kneeling (seemingly with bare knees) on green grass next to a large white cloth (probably a cuachtli) that is covered with beans (etl), which she is selling (namaca). There is also a tall, white, round container full of beans near her knees. This may be a measure for selling a certain quantity of beans. The beans appear to be black beans. The woman is shown in a ¾ view, facing right. She wears a white cotton huipilli with what may be an eight-petalled flower or sun symbol on the chest patch at the bottom of the V-neck. All the fabric in this image shows shading, giving it a three-dimensionality, which reveals European artistic influences. The woman’s hair is in the traditional style (neaxtlacualli or axtlacuilli) for adult or married women, with the hair twisted up into two points above her forehead. In the air in front of the woman’s face are two glyph-like signs. One is apparently a red speech scroll with something like a green leaf added below it. This may well indicate that her speech is untrustworthy, that she might be lying or cheating the customer. To the right of that is what might appear to be a speech scroll, but it has the shape of some glyphs for air or wind (ecatl or ehecatl). Perhaps this is a phonetic indicator that the term for beans (etl) starts with e-. If not, then both of these signs may refer to the deceitful activities and speech of the “bad bean seller.” This codex typically provides vocabulary that critiques the “bad’ and praises the “good” behavior for each type of person or occupation.