xochiquemitl (FBbk8f14v)

xochiquemitl (FBbk8f14v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This colorful painted black-line drawing of the simplex glyph of a xochiquemitl (a flowery ritual bib) doubles as the name for a male ruler, Xochiquen. The textile is rectangular. Wrinkles and shading give it a three-dimensionality. Flowers alternate between red-line drawings to black-line drawings that have added red coloring. This bib or chest garment has a ritual (Indigenous religious) significance.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

See how this xochiquemitl compares to others and to examples of the tilmatli (a cape worn by nobles), below. The quemitl was usually attached to a man’s neck, but a tilmatli was usually tied over one shoulder. Examples of paper and feathered quemitl also appear below.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

sochiquen

Gloss Normalization:

xochiquen

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Flowers

Gender (male)

Religion (Indigenous)

Textiles, Clothing, Hats, Regalia

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black

red

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

rectangular

shading and parallel line hatching

three-dimensionality

Keywords:

prendas, flor, flores, textiles

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

Xochiquen, a personal name and a famous name, ruler of Tenochtitlan, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochiquen
xochi(tl), flower, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochitl
quem(itl), ritual garment, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/quemitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

la prenda ritual de flores

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 6: Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy", fol. 168v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. ttps://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/8/folio/4v/images/45b33116-7f1b-4aee-accf-d5c9ac18a333 Accessed 20 June 2025.

Image Source, Rights:

Images of the digitized Florentine Codex are made available under the following Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International). For print-publication quality photos, please contact the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana ([email protected]). The Library of Congress has also published this manuscript, using the images of the World Digital Library copy. “The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse.”

Historical Contextualizing Image: