Itztlacoliuhqui (TR16v)

Itztlacoliuhqui (TR16v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

The iconographic example of an anthropomorphic figure representing the divine force or deity associated with frost, Itztlacoliuhqui, emphasizes a pink-striped and purple-red curling, conical hat or headdress (with the bending or curving coming from the verb, colihui) covered with penetrating obsidian points (itztli). The legs of this figure are positioned in such a way as to suggest motion or movement, perhaps dance. there are many details worthy of enumerating, including paper ornaments, but the thrust is to convey the "Obsidian-Curved One."

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This divine force is part of the Tetzcatlipoca complex and associated with frosts (cetl). It also had another name, Ce Cuetzpalin. (See our Online Nahuatl Dictionary.) Eloise Quiñones Keber notes that the "cotton and down covering of his white costume" is "a type of ornamentation usually associated with sacrificial victims," and the theme of "sacrifice and death" is reinforced in other depictions and associations of Itztlacoliuhqui in the codices Borgia and Vaticanus B. (For her larger compilation of references to this divine force, see Codex Telleriano-Remensis, 1995, 178.)

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Source Manuscript: 
Telleriano-Remensis, Codex (TR)
Date of Manuscript: 

ca. 1550–1563

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
deity name/theonym
Syntax: 
visible movement
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Death, decay, decomposition
Gifts, Offerings, Sacrifice
Jewelry, Crowns, or other Adornment
Movement
Music, Song, Dance
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Paper
Religion (Indigenous)
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Weapons, Shields, Armor
Colors: 
black
blue (turquoise)
green (light)
orange/terracotta
pink
purple
red
white/neutral
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
curving, curvy, curved
facing right
profile view
pointed (see also spiky)
spiky
Keywords: 

obsidian, obsidiana, paper, amate, papel, curved, corvado, retorcido, hielo, carambano, death, la muerte

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

Itztlacoliuhqui, deity name, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/itztlacoliuhqui
itz(tli), a sharp-bladed instrument of obsidian, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/itztli
colihui, to bend, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/colihui
ce(tl)>/em>, frost, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cetl

Image Source: 

Telleriano-Remensis Codex, folio 16 recto, MS Mexicain 385, Gallica digital collection, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8458267s/f58.item.zoom

Image Source, Rights: 

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Historical Contextualizing Image: