tlacuilolli (FCbk9f50v)

tlacuilolli (FCbk9f50v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a design (tlacuilolli) as body paint, is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making 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, per se, but in that field we are including a reference in Nahuatl about the body having been “painted [tattooed] across the body with obsidian serpents” (motlaquicuilo itzcohuatica). This example shows a detail of a bare male body where an obsidian serpent has been painted on the side of the abdomen. The contextualizing image shows the man in a dance-like position. He also has an unusual hairstyle, a nose ornament, and an ear plug. He may be a Cuextecatl, as suggested by the DFC keywording.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This obsidian serpent design resonates with three glyphs in particular in this collection, which appear below with some other Itzcoatl glyphs. The personal name Tetlacuilol underlines how the obsidian serpent was a particular design, such as we see in this record.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

motlaquicuilo itzcohuatica

Gloss Normalization:

motlaquicuilo itzcoatica

Gloss 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)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals: Reptiles

Face Paint or Tattoos

Gender (male)

Politics, Power, Governance

Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry

Writing, Literacy

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Keywords:

diseños, pinturas, tatuaje, obsidiana, serpientes

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tlacuilol(li), anything written or painted, a design, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlacuilolli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

un diseño [de pintura corporal]

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 9: The Merchants", fol. 50v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/9/folio/50v/images/0fc2331d-26... Accessed 1 September 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: