tlapitzalli (FCbk10f43v)

tlapitzalli (FCbk10f43v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of a flute (tlapitzali), is included in this digital collection as an iconographic example 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 a term in the text refers to the tlapitzalli seller (tlapitzalnamacac). This contextualizing image shows this flute lying on the ground in front of a merchant who is selling it, along with some beads. The flute is horizontal. It is small where the mouth would blow, and it has a wide bell at the end. The tlapitzalli has shading to show three-dimensionality, a result of European artistic influence on the tlacuilo. Also, if this is a cast metal instrument, this, too, shows a colonial impact on Nahua musical practices. But, of course, pottery flutes (huilacapitzalli) had pre-contact origins. See some examples in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The term tlapitzalli is relatively rare in this collection, but the occupation of the wind instrument player (tlapitzqui) is well attested.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

Tlapitzalnamacac

Gloss Normalization:

tlapitzalnamacac

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:

Gender (male)

Markets, Commerce, Economy

Metals, Minerals, Mining

Music, Song, Dance

Occupations

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

gray

green (light)

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

bell-shaped (on its side)

shading and parallel line hatching

three-dimensionality

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

flute, flauta, flautas, instrumento de viento, instrumentos, música, oficios

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tlapitzal(li), wind instrument, flute, cast metal object, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlapitzalli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el o la flautista

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 10: The People", fol. 43v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/10/folio/43v/images/0 Accessed 10 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: