tezcatl (Mdz29r)

tezcatl (Mdz29r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for mirror (tezcatl) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Tezcatepetonco. It shows a small circle, colored black, with a large red rim around it and four small white circles on the perimeter of the red rim.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

See Ian Mursell's article in Mexicolore on "smoking mirrors" for information about the use of mirrors in Mesoamerica from pre-Classic times forward, their use in divination, and their association with divine forces.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Religion (Indigenous)
Colors: 
black
red
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle, circular or rounded
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
symmetry
Keywords: 

espejos, mirrors

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

tezca(tl), a mirror, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tezcatl

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

mirror

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 29 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 68 of 188.

Image Source, Rights: 

The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, hold the original manuscript, the MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1. This image is published here under the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0).

See Also: 

Tezcatepetonco (Mdz29r)