mandamiento (Osu13r)

Other examples of writing in this collection typically show a piece writing (often called amatlacuilolli) as a simulation of alphabetic writing, which was a European introduction that the Nahuas took on quickly, given that they were experienced with writing in hieroglyphs. Rarely do samples of writing look as though they involve hieroglyphs put on paper. However, in the contextualizing image here, one can see another rectangle which looks like a landscape in part, but might be a document about working the land. The hairy volutes might be meant as words on the paper about how the Nahuas need to work the land. This would be a case then, where the writing is hieroglyphic at least in part. [For the interpretation that Dr. Puga was additionally ordering that the constable get the people to work the land, see: Vicenta Cortés Alonso, Pintura del Gobernador, Alcaldes, y Regidores de México (1976), p. 474.]