COLLECTION NAME:
JCB Archive of Early American Images
Accession number:
30289
Record number:
30289-106
JCB call number:
Codex Ind 2
Image title:
5a Otro modo de enterrar los muertos, quemandolos y enterrando las senizas.
Place image published:
[Mexico]
Image date:
[ca. 1585]
Image function:
plate; recto leaf 128
Technique:
painting
Image dimension height:
12.8 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
Description:
A mummy is shown seated on a basketwork throne with the glyph of Auizotl, a crown, feathered ornament made from quetzal plumes, a jade collar, and three men in background. The mummy has blood coming from it.
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 perigrinaçiones del camino su gouierno, ydolos y templos dellos, ritos y cirimonias ... calandarios delos tiempos
Source place of publication:
Mexico
Source date:
ca. 1585
notes:
The mummy of Ahuitzotl, with his glyph and other symbols of his royalty, is shown in the second stage of the funeral rites of the Aztec, the cremation. The three men in the background represent the slaves who were sacrificed when an emperor died. Auitzotl, or Ahuitzotl (reigned 1486-1502), the eighth Aztec emperor, son of Moctezuma (or Montezuma) and brother of Axayácatl and Tizoc, enlarged the Aztec empire to its greatest size. A ruthless military leader, he suppressed a Huastec rebellion and more than doubled the size of lands under Aztec dominance. He conquered the Mixtecs, Zapotecs, Tarascans, and others down to the western part of Guatemala. Under his rule the main temple at Tenochtitlán was completed. He died of a wasting disease. His funerary rites are described in the Codex Duran. Image is placed horizontally on page. Auitzotl is represented by the auitzotl, a kind of spiny rat or otter that lived in the lake on which Tenochtitlán was built. To ancient Mexicans, it was a fearful mythological creature who existed to trap men for the rain god, Tlaloc. 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
References:
Lafaye, J. Manuscript Tovar, p. 286; Gruzinski, S. Painting the Conquest, p. 61-64
Provenance/Donor:
Acquired from the collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps in 1946.
Owner and copyright:
©John Carter Brown Library, Box 1894, Brown University, Providence, R.I. 02912
Commentary:
geographic area:
Spanish America
Subject Area:
Artifacts, industry, and human activities
Subject Area:
Indigenous peoples
Subject headings:
Mexico--History--To 1519
Subject headings:
Indians of Mexico
Subject headings:
Aztecs--Kings and rulers--Mythology
- Active Media Group: