San Pablo (MH698r)

This painting of the compound glyph for the place name San Pablo Ocotepec (“Torch Pine Mountain (of) St. Paul”) shows a rocky peak painted in green, gray, and white. The rocks are mostly rounded ovals. On top of the mountain is an ocotl (torch pine) tree. It has green foliage and nine pinecones. Standing on a board and perhaps partly in a black cave is an image of San Pablo (St. Paul) in a frontal view. He is wearing a turquoise blue garment with a white cape. He holds a white, locking, presumably religious, book in his right hand and a turquoise blue sword with a gold-colored handle in his left hand. The saint’s face is shown in a ¾ view. He has long hair, but also a balding head with just a little tuft of hair above his forehead. A golden halo surrounds his head, indicative of his divinity according to European artistic tradition.