quetzaltlalpiloni (Mdz49r)
This colorful painting is a glyph-like example of iconography for the quetzaltlalpiloni, a special quetzal feather hair binder with double tassels that was a type of insignia. The double tassels are connected by a white tie with a knot at top and center. The tassels are turquoise-blue, red, yellow, and different shades of green.
Stephanie Wood
un queçal tlalpilone de
plumas rricas q~
servia de insi
nia rreal
n quetzaltlalpiloni de plumas ricas que servía de insignia real
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest
plumas, pelo, insignia, atado
![](https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/quetzaltlalpiloni49rfeatheredhairtie_ICON.png?itok=xaiw1eEm)
quetzal(li), the feathers of the quetzal bird, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/quetzalli
tlalpiloni, a special hair binder with double feather tassels, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlalpiloni
(unas insignias en forma de adorno de borlas de plumas quetzales para el pelo)
Codex Mendoza, folio 46 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 108 of 188.
Original manuscript is held by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1; used here with the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0)