tzoncalli (TK222r)

This painted example of iconography features a multicolored headdress that we are labeling a tzoncalli, based on the Spanish-language gloss, “los penachos.”) This tzoncalli features an agave plant called the maguey in Spanish and the metl in Nahuatl, although there is no gloss or text about this image. This plant has a blue-green color on its branches, although the spines are yellow. It has pink visible roots. The roots reach down between a horizontal row of five small gold discs. Above the metl is a round disc with a mosaic of turquoise tesserae. This item can symbolize a year, but the meaning here is not clear. The upper part of the tzoncalli is a green oval with more than a dozen small gold discs around it. The bottom part of the headdress has a horizontal row of more gold discs and then rows of horizontal stripes in blue, red, gold, and green. The discs are outlined in red. Finally, what appears to be a strip of jaguar hide hangs down at the bottom of the headdress.