tezcatl (TR27r)

tezcatl (TR27r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for mirror (tezcatl) comes from the compound glyph for the place name Tezcatepec. It is a circle painted gray with a light orange or tan perimeter. The green color is a remnant of the mountain that surrounds the mirror

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: 
Telleriano-Remensis, Codex (TR)
Date of Manuscript: 

ca. 1550–1563

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Religion (Indigenous)
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
gray
tan
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
Museum & Rare Book Comparisons: 
Museum/Rare Book Notes: 

Obsidian mirror, Mexica/Aztec, obsidian and wood, 50 cms x 40 cms, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales - CSIC, Madrid. Published by Mexicolore, https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/artefacts/spotlight/obsidian-mirror

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

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

Image Source: 

Telleriano-Remensis Codex, folio 27 recto, MS Mexicain 385, Gallica digital collection, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8458267s/f79.item.zoom

Image Source, Rights: 

The non-commercial reuse of images from the Bibliothèque nationale de France is free as long as the user is in compliance with the legislation in force and provides the citation: “Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France” or “Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.”