xiuhmatlalitztli (FCbk11f209r)

This iconographic example, featuring a black-line drawing of a highly prized gem, perhaps a sapphire (xiuhmatlalitztli), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the text near the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows a stone that resembles a large potato, but long and somewhat flat. Above the stone is a group of five flowers, each one on its own stem, and each one with four petals. Some stems have a single leaf. The nearby text explains that this is the most highly-prized gem of all precious stones, and it might be a sapphire. The name combines turquoise (xihuitl), a blue-green colored flower (matlalin), and obsidian (itztli). While this record designates the image as an example of iconography, the compound nature of this image of the xiuhmatlalitztli might deserve to be reclassified as a hieroglyph. Since there is no color added to the flowers, this image will not help settle the question about whether matlalin is a blue, blue-green, or green. Please note that the flowers should be lighter in color than shown here, because the paper got aged and the flowers have not been retouched the same way we lightened the background. It is also important to recognize that the landscape setting suggests European artistic influences.