Detail View: JCB Archive of Early American Images: [Ten commandments]

Accession number: 
14696
Record number: 
14696-2
JCB call number: 
BA571 J91d [F]
Image title: 
[Ten commandments]
Place image published: 
[Mexico]
Image publisher: 
[Pedro Ocharte]
Image date: 
1571
Image function: 
leaf 14 verso; leaf 15 recto
Technique: 
woodcut
Image dimension height: 
14.7 cm. [left];17.2 cm. [right]
Image dimension width: 
10.8 cm. [left]; 10.7 cm. [right]
Page dimension height: 
19.9 cm.
Page dimension width: 
28.9 cm. [both pages]
Materials medium: 
ink
Materials support: 
paper
Languages: 
Spanish, Huastec
Description: 
Two left hands with each finger labeled twice with the ten commandments. The hand on leaf 14 verso is labeled in Spanish; the hand on leaf 15 recto is labeled in Huastec.
Source creator: 
Juan de la Cruz, Augustinian
Source Title: 
Doctrina christiana en la lengua Guasteca co[n] la lengua castellana ...
Source place of publication: 
Mexico
Source publisher: 
En casa de Pedro Ocharte
Source date: 
1571
notes: 
These woodcuts of hands with type-printed labels were used as mnemonic devices to teach the concept of the Ten Commandments. The Huastec or Guasteca people of the province of Vera Cruz are tribes of Maya stock who were isolated from the rest of the Maya before the coming of the Spanish and whose language and culture developed separately from the Maya.
Time Period: 
1492-1600
References: 
John Carter Brown Library, Annual Report, 1927, p. 9-10; http://www.vjf.cnrs.fr/celia/FichExt/Am/A_19-20_09.htm (Feb. 2004)
Provenance/Donor: 
Acquired in 1926.
Owner and copyright: 
©John Carter Brown Library, Box 1894, Brown University, Providence, R.I. 02912
geographic area: 
Spanish America
Subject Area: 
Artifacts, industry, and human activities
Subject Area: 
Indigenous peoples
Subject headings: 
Catholic Church--Catechisms--Huastec
Subject headings: 
Indians of Mexico--Languages--Huastec--Texts
Subject headings: 
Huastec language--Texts