maxtlatl (Mdz13r)

This loincloth (maxtlatl) would have been worn by a man, placed in front of his genitals. There would have been a waist band from which it would hang. The Florentine Codex provides examples of loincloths that hang both in front and in the back, covering part of the buttocks. See: Appendix, Book II, folio 110v. Sometimes only a loincloth was worn (when the climate was warm), and at other times, the loincloths were accompanied by a tunic or a sleeveless cape. This white maxtlatl is fairly plain compared to some of the loincloths in the iconographic examples of this collection. Differences in design probably related to social status--loincloths for the lower social strata were made from maguey fiber according to Henry B. Nicholson and ‎Eloise Quiñones Keber in the Art of Aztec Mexico, 1983, p. 183--and perhaps also ethnicity and/or occupation. On some occasions, symbolic loincloths were carried in religious processions, such as those described by Kay Read, Time and Sacrifice in the Aztec Cosmos, 1998, p. 81, and Eloise Quiñones Keber in Representing Aztec Ritual, 2002, 124.