tecciztli (FCbk8f30r)

tecciztli (FCbk8f30r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a conch shell (tecciztli), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making potential comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the keywords chosen by the team behind the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss. This example shows a brown horizontal shell with an opening barely visible on the upper right edge and a swirl on the left side. This was the kind of shell that was blown as a trumpet, a kind of musical instrument and a means of making loud calls. For an example of a scene of music where a conch is being blown, see FCbk8f41r, and for an example of a religious ceremony where conches are blown, see FCbk2f135r.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Two Nahuatl hieroglyphs of conches in this digital collection involve the personal name Tecciz (see below). In some iconographic examples, the color red was pronounced, and cross-sections that reveal the internal swirl were also popular. One cross-section was made into a pendant. A fondness for swirls is also found in whirlwinds and whirlpools (movement), among other places in nature.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

noun(s)

visual movement

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Marine, Maritime, Lacustrine

Movement

Music, Song, Dance

Shells

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

brown

Shapes and Perspectives:

horizontal

shimmer, vibrance, shine with warmth & movement

spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling

Keywords:

queen conch, pink conch, trumpets, trompetas, caracolas

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tecciz(tli), a conch shell, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecciztli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

la caracola/trompeta

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 8: Kings and Lords", fol. 30r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/8/folio/30r/images/0 Accessed 10 August 2025.

Image Source, Rights:

Images of the digitized Florentine Codex are made available under the following Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International). For print-publication quality photos, please contact the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana ([email protected]). The Library of Congress has also published this manuscript, using the images of the World Digital Library copy. “The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse.”

Historical Contextualizing Image: