tapachtli (FCbk11f204r)

tapachtli (FCbk11f204r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a black-line drawing of scallop shells (tapachtli), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the text near the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows a bird’s eye view of swirling water edged by sand and stones, with four scallop shells, apparently Vogde’s scallop or a lion’s paw scallop.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

One tapachtli hieroglyph appears in this collection as an element in a place name (Tamapachco). Other examples, more appropriately considered iconographic examples, come from the Florentine Codex.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

tapachtli

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:

Shells

Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry

Water

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Shapes and Perspectives:

bird's eye view

Keywords:

conchas, coral, corales, molusco rosado, moluscos rosados, shell

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tapach(tli), a scallop shell or perhaps coral, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tapachtli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

la almeja voladora, la almeja mano de león, la concha de vieira, o coral

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 11: Earthly Things", fol. 204r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/204r/images/0 Accessed 16 November 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: