tecciztli (FCbk11f212r)

tecciztli (FCbk11f212r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a group of conch shells (tecciztli), 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 different types of conch shells (tecciztli, both large and small, and a tlapaltecciztli, rose-colored or brown). The contextualizing image also shows a clam shell (atzcalli or ayopalli) and a scallop shell (tapachtli).

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The tecciztli could be played as a trumpet. It could be cut, revealing its inner spirals, which were highly valued, along with whirlpools and whirlwinds. See some hieroglyphic examples below. Synonyms for the tecciztli include the terms cilli (also spelled cilin) and chipolli. See some examples of the tecciztli below. Note that there was a personal name Tecciz, and in some examples of the shell, a creature is shown peeking out from inside the shell.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

Tecçiztli

Gloss/Text Normalization:

tecciztli

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:

Food, Eating, Cooking

Marine, Maritime, Lacustrine

Shells

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

shading and parallel line hatching

three-dimensionality

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

caracolas, concha, conchas, caracolito, caracolitos, mar, océano, marisco, mariscos

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tecciz(tli), a conch shell, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecciztli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

la caracola

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. 212r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/212r/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.”

Orthography:

"çi" for ci

Historical Contextualizing Image: