ihuitl (Mdz57r)
This example of iconography from the Codex Mendoza shows a feather (which we have labeled ihuitl, despite the lack of a gloss for it in Nahuatl) colored red. It is presented in a frontal view, at an angle, leaning slightly to the viewer's left. The vane is red and the downy barbs are left natural/white.
Stephanie Wood
The context shows that the red feather was part of a group of "insignias." Laura Filloy Nadal and María Olvido Moreno Guzmán, in their essay in Mesoamerican Manuscripts (2018, p. XVI) explain that these insignia refer to "carpenters (cuahxinque), featherworkers (amanteca), painters tlacuiloque), and goldsmiths (teocuitlahuaque)." This red feather is therefore the insignia here of the featherworkers.
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
This stone carving of a large number of feathers (ihuitl) retains some of the original red colorant, underscoring the preciosity of red feathers. Photo shot at the museum at the archaeological site of Tenayuca by Stephanie Wood, 13 August 2023.
ihui(tl), feather, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ihuitl
la pluma
Stephanie Wood
Codex Mendoza, folio 57 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 124 of 188.
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)
