nauhcampa (FCbk10f59r)

This iconographic example, featuring a quincunx, or what could conceivably refer to the four cardinal directions (nauhcampa) in Nahuatl, is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. There is no gloss that explains the design. It is a part of a larger image labeled a “decorative element” by the team who have created the Digital Florentine Codex. The decorative element combines a European-style manuscript flourish and, in between the botanical elements, a design that seems more Nahua in origin. It is an oval with a border and a dark center. Inside the dark center is a white shape, something like a flower, with a small circle and what might be four evenly-spaced petals around it. (Another flower-like shape appears in the botanical decorative element on folio 64 recto.) The border around the perimeter of the oval here contains upside-down U-shapes that are reminiscent of the features of some glyphs for the night sky. Thus, not only does the quincunx possibly refer to the four cardinal directions (nauhcampa) but perhaps also the vertical axis that connected the heavens with the underworld. The rounded, circular, or oval shape is also reminiscent of some glyphs for the night sky. For further discussion of the botanical details in the Florentine Codex see the article by Harper Dine, “Floral Paradise between Pages,” Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 62 (julio-dic. 2021), 187-235.