tepoztlatlapoloni (CST12)

tepoztlatlapoloni (CST12)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This painting of the simplex glyph for the term tepoztlatlapoloni (metal key), which is seemingly shown here as a metal locking device with two keys hanging from a bar. This is all shown in a frontal view. The companion text explains that these items were needed in the home (storage place?) of the silk, which would have been raised locally but introduced by Europeans, along with these metal objects.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This technology was introduced in the process of the Spanish colonization of Mexico. For other examples of similar metal objects, see the tepoztli entry from Plate 2 of the Codex Sierra-Texupan. And, generally, for more on the Codex Sierra, see Kevin Terraciano’s study (2021).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Source Manuscript: 
Sierra/Texupan, Codex (CST)
Date of Manuscript: 

1550–1564

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Santa Catalina Texupan, Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Metals, Minerals, Mining
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Textiles, Clothing, Hats, Regalia
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
gray
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
Other Cultural Influences: 
Mixtec
Spanish/European
Keywords: 

metales, llaves, cerraduras, bodega para seda

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

tlatlapoloni, key, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlatlapoloni
tepoz(tli), copper or metal, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tepoztli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

llaves de metálicas

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Códice Sierra-Texupan, plate 12, page dated [1]554. Origin: Santa Catalina Texupan, Mixteca Alta, State of Oaxaca. Kevin Terraciano has published an outstanding study of this manuscript (Codex Sierra, 2021), and in his book he refers to alphabetic and “pictorial” writing, not hieroglyphic writing. We are still counting some of the imagery from this source as hieroglyphic writing, but we are also including examples of “iconography” where the images verge on European style illustrations or scenes showing activities. We have this iconography category so that such images can be fruitfully compared with hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphic writing was evolving as a result of the influence of European illustrations, and even alphabetic writing impacted it.
https://bidilaf.buap.mx/objeto.xql?id=48281&busqueda=Texupan&action=sear...

Image Source, Rights: 

The Biblioteca Digital Lafragua of the Biblioteca Histórica José María Lafragua in Puebla, Mexico, publishes this Códice Sierra-Texupan, 1550–1564 (62pp., 30.7 x 21.8 cm.), referring to it as being in the “Public Domain.” This image is published here under a Creative Commons license, asking that you cite the Biblioteca Digital Lafragua and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs.

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

tepoztli (CST2)