tecpan (Osu15r)

tecpan (Osu15r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This painting of a ruling palace (tecpan) is an example of iconography, meant to provide for comparisons with glyphs of the same. It comes from the Codex Osuna, folio 15 recto (or Image 32). There is no gloss that says this building is a tecpan, but we are tentatively assigning the term tecpan based upon some comparisons already made with glyphs for the town named Tecpan (see below). The tecpan regularly has a dark horizontal band just under the rooftop, and this band contains concentric circles. This one has five. The building also has the typical entryway, framed with terracotta-colored beams on the sides (supports) and top (lintel).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The proximity of this building to the viceroy, don Luis de Velasco, suggests that it is a tecpan, or ruling palace, too.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Source Manuscript: 
Osuna, Codex (Osu)
Date of Manuscript: 

1551–1565

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Architecture, Construction, Buildings
Politics, Power, Governance
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black
gray
orange/terracotta
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
frontal view
rectangular
Keywords: 

palacios, gobernantes, gobierno, edificios, arquitectura

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

tecpan, royal palace in an Indigenous community or capital city, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecpan

Image Source: 

Library of Congress Online Catalog and the World Digital Library, Osuna Codex, or Painting of the Governor, Mayors, and Rulers of Mexico (Pintura del Gobernador, Alcaldes y Regidores de México), https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_07324/. The original is located in the Biblioteca Nacional de España.

Image Source, Rights: 

"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." But please cite the Biblioteca Nacional de España and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs if you use any of these images here or refer to the content on this page, providing the URL.

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Tecpan (Mdz32r)

Tecpan (Mdz5v)

tecpan (HJ276:79pt2:78r)