micqui (FCbk5f13v)

micqui (FCbk5f13v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example features a deceased person (micqui) or a corpse (micquetl). It is included here for the purpose of comparing it with hieroglyphs. This example shows what is likely a male person, given his sitting posture, with his knees up. He is entirely wrapped in a white cloth that is tied onto his corpse. This shrouded bundle sits on a green-brown ground, which shows European stylistic influence.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This collection contains several glyphs of deceased persons or corpses (below). That Codex Mendoza also has nude bodies laid out.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

in micqui

Gloss/Text Normalization:

in micqui

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Death, decay, decomposition

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

brown

gray

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing right

profile view

shading and parallel line hatching

three-dimensionality

tied, bound, or bundled

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

muerto, muertos, cadáveres, cadáver, difunto, difuntos, cuerpo, cuerpos, la muerte

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

micqui, a deceased person, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/micqui

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el muerto

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 5: The Omens", fol. 13v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/5/folio/13v/images/0 Accessed 30 June 2025.

Image Source, Rights:

Images of the digitized Florentine Codex are made available under the following Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International). For print-publication quality photos, please contact the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana ([email protected]). The Library of Congress has also published this manuscript, using the images of the World Digital Library copy. “The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse.”

Historical Contextualizing Image: