tempilolli (FCbk8f56v)

tempilolli (FCbk8f56v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a turquoise lip plug (tempilolli), 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 turquoise blue projection that was apparently made to extend out from below the lower lip. The text nearby explains that this was a gift that a successful warrior might receive.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Examples of other lower lip or chin ornaments appear below. The Tempol glyph (which might not actually name a lip ornament but refer to a large lip) appears closer to the one pictured in this record than perhaps the label tempilolli. The tezacatl (this one is indeed the name of a lip ornament, also spelled tenzacatl, perhaps) is also close to the one in this record. Further research could help to clarify. As seen below, lip ornaments seem to vary culturally.

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:

Gender (male)

Jewelry, Crowns, or other Adornment

Turquoise or Jadeite

War or Conflict

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

blue (turquoise)

Shapes and Perspectives:

curving, curvy, curved

horizontal

Keywords:

labio, labios, mentón, mentones, joyas

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tempilol(li), a lip pendant, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tempilolli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el bezote de turquesa

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 8: Kings and Lords", fol. 56v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/8/folio/56v/images/d44ce243-01... Accessed 25 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: