ihuiteteyo (Mdz65r)

ihuiteteyo (Mdz65r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This example of iconography is included here for comparative purposes when examining war shields and/or feathers, especially the down feathers. This shield is round and colored primarily yellow, with eight white down feather balls and a white rim around the circle.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This is a war shield of the ihuiteteyo design, discussed by Frances Berdan and Patricia Anawalt (The Codex Mendoza, 1992, vol. 1, Appendix G). It can come in different colors. Sometimes the symbols on this design are taken for shells. An article by Ian Mursell in Mexicolore and citing the same authors, reminds us that they are down balls, which have associations with death. He also paraphrases John Pohl, saying that the war shield was very personal, it "represented the warrior’s soul, and would generally be burned at the funeral of a dead man." We also learn from The Codex Mendoza: New Insights (2022, 24), that "the tlacuiloque drew and painted a total of eleven ihuiteteyo, one for each one of the rulers of the city."

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)

Date of Manuscript:

c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Death, decay, decomposition

Feathers

War or Conflict

Weapons, Shields, Armor

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

red

white/neutral

yellow or golden

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle, circular or rounded

Keywords:

feathers, shields, rodelas, escudos, feathers, plumas

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

ihuiteteyo, down ball shield design, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ihuiteteyo
ihui(tl), feather(s), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ihuitl
teteyo, rocky place, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teteyo
-yo(tl)-, having that characteristic or quality/inalienable possession, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/yotl

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 65 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00...

Image Source, Rights:

Original manuscript is held by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1; used here with the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0)