tapachtli (FCbk9f18r)

tapachtli (FCbk9f18r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This iconographic example, featuring a seashell, either red coral or a scallop shell (tapachtli), 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 keywords chosen by the team behind the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss. This example shows a pink shell with six curving parallel lines and a little swirl at the top. In the context this is part of the wares displayed in front of a seated merchant who is facing Ahuitzotzin.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The one other example of a tapachtli that we have in this collection (as of August 2025) comes from the Codex Mendoza. Coming from far away at the Atlantic or Pacific coasts, seashells were prized in the central highlands. Mexicolore has drawings of the tapachtli. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a tabard and necklace apparently made of tapachtli. In case this is a Pacific lion’s paw shell, here’s an image: https://www.mexican-shells.org/pacific-lions-paw-shell/ .

Added 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: 
Marine, Maritime, Lacustrine
Markets, Commerce, Economy
Shells
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
pink
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
curving, curvy, curved
frontal view
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
Keywords: 

conchas, corales, molusco rosado

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

tapach(tli), sea shell, perhaps coral or red scallop shell, 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 9: The Merchants", fol. 18r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/9/folio/18r/images/0 Accessed 28 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: 
See Also: 

tapachtli (Mdz12r)