xicalli (Mdz68r)

xicalli (Mdz68r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This example of iconography features a frontal view of a ceramic cup (xicalli) for the chocolate beverage (according to the gloss--see below). Four cacao beans stick up at the top of the cup. Red and white designs appear on a horizontal band on the upper part of the cup and on the stem at the bottom. Otherwise, the cup is a terracotta color, suggesting it is made of local clay.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Chocolate was consumed by members of the social hierarchy. The design of the cup suggests this, too. The shape of a cacao beverage cup is one of various shapes for the xicalli glyphs in this collection (see some examples below). They can have a trapezoidal shape, a curved bottom, and a stem, such as this one. Some xicalli vessels were made from gourds. The term xicalli entered Spanish as jícara. Xical was occasionally given as a personal name--perhaps when a baby had a round belly?

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

xicara cō cacao
pa bever

Gloss Normalization: 

jícara con cacao para beber

Gloss 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: 
Ceramics, Pottery
Chocolate, Cocoa, Cacao
Containers, Dishes, Eating Utensils
Food, Eating, Cooking
Social Hierarchy, Commoners, Elites
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle, circular or rounded
horizontal
vertical, upright
Keywords: 

cups, containers, vessels, jícaras, bowls, tazas, tazones, cuencos

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

xical(li), a gourd vessel, container, cup, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xicalli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

la jícara

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 68 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., Image 146 of 188.

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)

See Also: 

xicalli (Mdz29r)

xicalli (Mdz23v)

Payac (MH602v)

Tlanenel (MH602r)

Xical (MH501r)

Xical (MH525r)

Xical (MH596r)

Xical (MH765r)