tlaxiuhzalolli (FCbk11f241r)

tlaxiuhzalolli (FCbk11f241r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring featuring a black and white sketch of the facade of a tecpancalli (ruling palace) that has stones that create mosaics (tlaxiuhzalolli), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the text near the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows a frontal view of a palace with a checkerboard flooring in front, an entryway framed by round stone columns with small flourishes at the top. It has areas “encrusted” with stone mosaics that are hard and shining, very pleasing to observers, according to the text. The text continues to say that this building is tall and large, with rooms for men and women, servants, dining, audiences with the ruler, sleeping rooms, and space for detention.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The text does not spell out the material used for the mosaics, but since the term includes the element of “-xiuh-,” it was likely turquoise. Other appearances of the term tlaxiuhzalolli in the Florentine Codex include references to turquoise, as the Gran Diccionario Nahuatl makes clear.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

…tla[-]xiuhçalolli…

Gloss/Text Normalization:

tlaxiuhzalolli

Gloss/Text 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:

Architecture, Construction, Buildings

Art, Design, Crafts, etc.

Color names

Gender (male)

Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry

Turquoise or Jadeite

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

shading and parallel line hatching

three-dimensionality

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

xihuitl, jades, turquesas, tesserae, mosaicos, edificio, edificios, palacio, palacios

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tlaxiuhzalol(li), mosaic, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlaxiuhzalolli
xihui(tl), turquoise, green things, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xihuitl-0

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el mosaico (de jade o turquesa)

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 11: Earthly Things", fol. 241r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/241r/images/0 Accessed 16 November 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: