1a figura Uitzilopuchtli, idolo principal de los Mexicanos.
Place image published:
[Mexico]
Image date:
[ca. 1585]
Image function:
plate; recto leaf 120
Technique:
painting
Image dimension height:
13.2 cm.
Image dimension width:
18.1 cm.
Page dimension height:
21 cm.
Page dimension width:
15.2 cm.
Materials medium:
watercolor
Materials support:
paper
Languages:
Spanish, Nahuatl
Description:
Huitzilopochtli, holding a turquoise serpent or rattlesnake in one hand and a shield with the five directions of space and three arrows, wears a hummingbird mask or helmet with feathered quetzal crown which is identified with the two Moctezumas (or Montezumas).
Source creator:
Tovar, Juan de, ca. 1546-ca. 1626
Source Title:
Historia de la benida de los yndios apoblar a Mexico de las partes remotas de Occidente los sucessos y perigrinaçion es del camino su gouierno, ydolos y templos dellos, ritos y cirimonias ... calandarios delos tiempos
Source place of publication:
Mexico
Source date:
ca. 1585
notes:
Huitzilopochtli, whose name means "Blue hummingbird on the left," was the Aztec god of the sun and war. The turquoise or fire serpent (xiuhcoatl) was his mystical weapon. Image is placed horizontally on page. The Tovar manuscript is divided into three sections. This second section of the manuscript--an illustrated history of the Aztecs--is essentially the same as the Codex Ramírez and forms the main body of the manuscript.
Time Period:
1492-1600
Subject Area:
Artifacts, industry, and human activities; Indigenous peoples
geographic area:
Spanish America
Subject headings:
Aztec gods; Indians of Mexico; Mexico--History--To 1519
References:
Lafaye, J. Manuscript Tovar, p. 274
References exhibitions:
Danforth, S. Encountering the New World, fig. 18
Provenance/Donor:
Acquired from the collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps in 1946.
