Texauhqui (MH603v)
This black-line drawing of the simplex Nahuatl hieroglyph for the personal name or occupation, Texauhqui (“Face Painter,” attested here as pertaining to a man) shows a profile view of the head of a man looking toward the viewer's right. On his cheek is a square with what may be a flower (xochitl)) or a day/sun sign (tonalli) inside. And one-half of the sign for tlacuiloliztli (the act of painting or writing). Many believe (beginning with John Pohl) that the object being painted or written in that case is a tonalamatl calendar.
Stephanie Wood
The Te- at the start of the name or occupation is the indefinite pronoun which suggests that he paints people's faces. Face painting was practiced since time immemorial. The petals of a flower are not clear, but the quincunx shape is reminiscent of some representations of the glyph for icuilolli, a painting (or a piece of writing).
Stephanie Wood
texauhgui~
Texauhqui
Stephanie Wood
1560
Stephanie Wood
pinturas, pintacaras, tatuajes, caras
texauhqui, a face painter, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/texauhqui
xahua, to shave, to paint the face, to array oneself in the ancient manner, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xahua
Él Que Pinta Caras
Stephanie Wood
Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 603v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=289st=image.
This manuscript is hosted by the Library of Congress and the World Digital Library; used here with the Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SAq 3.0).
