matlatl (Mdz59r)
This iconographic example of a net, or red (Spanish for net, as seen in the gloss), is included here as a comparison for other nets in the collection. Despite the lack of a Nahuatl-language gloss here, we are labeling this net with the term matlatl. This net has an oval frame attached to it, and a long stick or handle, also connected to the frame. The assumption of wood comes from the terracotta color (here, very light), which is often given to wooden things.
Stephanie Wood
The net appears to be one for catching fish in a river, lagoon, or lake. Compared to others, this net is more of a scoop. Other nets much like this one are found in glyphs referring to Tolocan (modern Toluca), because the valley there had a large lagoon that used to be fished extensively. The Indigenous people there were also known as the Matlatzinca. But this matlatl could also have been a type of net used in the lakes of the Valley of Mexico, in Michoacan, and other parts. This is worth investigating. See below for comparisons.
Stephanie Wood
Red
red [which is Spanish for matlatl, and Spanish for the English word "net"]
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest
nets, redes, pescar, pescando, herramienta
matla(tl), net, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/matlatl
Codex Mendoza, folio 59 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 128 of 188.
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)
