tecpan (MH825r)

This is an iconographic example for making comparisons with architectural glyphs. It is a symbol of a pueblo or barrio in Huexotzinco with the devotion of San Gregorio or San Salvador. We are linking this to the term tecpan, municipal palace, which is often the kind of glyph found at the opening of a list of the tribute payers of a given neighborhood or small settlement in this manuscript. If this were a teopantli (temple), and given the presence of Europeans in the vicinity for a generation, it would look more like a church. This building is, indeed, impressive for its evidence of European influence, with its four beautifully carved columns and its stone or adobe foundation of alternating bricks. At the same time, the horizontal design across the top of the building, with its row of four quincunx shapes, harkens to the Nahua designs on the pecheros of huitpiles and some representations of codices. See below.