quetzalpatzactli (FCbk9f5r)

quetzalpatzactli (FCbk9f5r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a quetzal feather crest device or headdress (quetzalpatzactli), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making potential comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the previous folio (Book 9, 4v) of the Digital Florentine Codex. This example shows an elaborate headdress crowned with an array of quetzal feathers, plus layers of yellow, turquoise blue, red, orange, and more blue feathers, all built onto a wooden frame that would attach to the wearer’s back. On folio 5v one can see how this kind of device is worn in action.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

There are a number of examples of insignia or devices in this collection, most of which describe personal names.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

quetzalpatzactli

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Feathers

Gender (male)

Insignia

Jewelry, Crowns, or other Adornment

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing left

profile view

Keywords:

tlahuiztli, tocado, tocados, devisas, insignia, guerreros

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

quetzalpatzac(tli), a quetzal feather crest device, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/quetzalpatzactli
tlahuiz(tli), battle device or insignia, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlahuiztli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el tocado o la devisa de plumas quetzales

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 9: The Merchants", fol. 5r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/9/folio/5r/images/0 Accessed 26 August 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: