xayacatl (Mdz19r)
This element for face (xayacatl) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Axayacatl (shown below, right). It is a male face (which is determined by the haircut, including short bangs and black hair cut off just below the ears), and the skin is a terracotta color. The eye is open and it is white with a black pupil. The face is in profile, facing to the viewer's right.
Stephanie Wood
Only one other face glyph in this collection is a frontal view. The profile is the norm, and showing the hair on the head seems optional. One face is turquoise and has been laid down, suggestive of a mask, which is another translation for xayacatl.
Stephanie Wood
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
faces, caras
face
Stephanie Wood
Codex Mendoza, folio 15 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 48 of 188.
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).