necuaatequiliztli (Azca31)

This unglossed painting features a baptism scene, which we are labeling as a necuaatequiliztli, which was a common term, a loanword for the act of baptism, commonly found in Nahuatl alphabetic records. This is not a hieroglyph but a scene shared here as an example of the iconography of colonial religious elements in codices. The presiding priest appears in a frontal view wearing a white robe with a gray hood. He helps wet the head of a person at a baptismal font. This person has taken his shirt off, leaving it around his waist. He also wears loose trousers. The font is largely red, but left white on the right side, suggesting a three-dimensionality.