Codex Mendoza pictorials

Codex Mendoza pictorials
Name	Codex Mendoza pictorials
Date	c. 1541–1542
Location	Mexico City
Language	Nahuatl (pictorial)
Material	amate paper, vitreous paint, vellum (later backing)
Repository	Bodleian Library

Codex Mendoza pictorials

The Codex Mendoza pictorials are the illustrated sections of a sixteenth-century manuscript produced in the aftermath of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire to record indigenous Nahua tribute, landholding, and Mesoamerican history for officials such as Antonio de Mendoza, Viceroyalty of New Spain, Charles V, Hernán Cortés, and Francisco de Ximénez de Cisneros. The pictorials combine indigenous graphic conventions with European materials and were intended to bridge visual comprehension for figures like Francisco de Mendoza, Luis de Velasco (marqués de Salinas), Bishop Juan de Zumárraga, and scribes attached to the Real Audiencia of Mexico. Surviving folios now inform scholarship in fields tied to Bernardino de Sahagún, Andrés de Olmos, Diego Durán, Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, and collections such as the Bodleian Library and the British Museum.

Introduction

The pictorials within the Codex Mendoza present concentrated visual data on tribute lists, town maps, and dynastic events intended for administrative review by officials including Antonio de Mendoza, Charles V, Viceroyalty of New Spain, Real Audiencia of Mexico, and Council of the Indies. They reflect interactions among indigenous artisans, colonial scribes, and ecclesiastical agents like Juan de Zumárraga, Francisco de Ximénez de Cisneros, Bernardino de Sahagún, Diego Durán, and surveyors working under the oversight of figures such as Hernán Cortés and Andrés de Olmos. The pictorials have been studied by modern scholars including Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, Miguel León-Portilla, Charles Gibson, John Pohl, and institutions like the Bodleian Library, Biblioteca Nacional de España, and the British Museum.

Physical Description and Materials

The original pictorial folios were painted on amate paper by indigenous painters using pigments introduced through exchanges with Europeans such as Francisco de Mendoza and materials traded via networks involving Seville. Pigments and binding decisions reflect access to materials associated with New Spain, Mexico City, Tlaxcala, Texcoco, and workshops connected to encomenderos and religious houses like those of Franciscan Order and Dominican Order. The manuscript’s sheet size, foliation, and later backing reveal interventions by collectors including agents of the Bodleian Library and antiquarians operating in Paris, London, and Madrid. Conservation histories intersect with restorers linked to institutions such as the British Museum conservation department and archival practices promoted by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.

Organization and Content of the Pictorials

The pictorial section is organized into panels and registers that enumerate tribute items from provinces such as Huexotzinco, Texcoco, Tenochtitlan, Tlaxcala, Cholula, and Xaltocan using glyphic numeration comparable to annals recorded by Bernardino de Sahagún and maps akin to those in the Florentine Codex and works by Diego Durán. Scenes depict tribute goods—feathers, cacao, cotton, obsidian—associated with rulers and altepetl like Moctezuma II, Axayacatl, Nezahualcóyotl, Itzcoatl, and Ahuitzotl and administrative units referenced by Viceroyalty of New Spain officials and clerics such as Juan de Zumárraga. The pictorials also outline landholding patterns and tribute levies relevant to settlements documented in contemporaneous records created for the Council of the Indies and the Real Audiencia of Mexico.

Iconography and Symbolism

Visual language in the pictorials employs glyphs, calendrical signs, and emblematic imagery shared with codices like the Mendoza Codex predecessors, Florentine Codex, and Borgia Group manuscripts, reflecting systems studied by Miguel León-Portilla, Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, and John Bierhorst. Glyphs identify rulers such as Moctezuma II, Nezahualcóyotl, Axayacatl, and Itzcoatl and places like Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan while numeration uses bars and dots analogous to annals recorded in Huexotzinco Codex. Symbolic motifs—war clubs, feathered headdresses, temple-step signs—mediate messages for administrators including Antonio de Mendoza and missionaries like Bernardino de Sahagún. Interpretations draw on philological work by Andrés de Olmos, Miguel León-Portilla, and paleographers at the Bodleian Library and the Biblioteca Nacional de España.

Historical Context and Production

Produced ca. 1541–1542 in Mexico City for delivery to Spanish authorities including Antonio de Mendoza and Charles V, the pictorials were created amid postconquest reorganization overseen by institutions such as the Viceroyalty of New Spain, Real Audiencia of Mexico, and religious networks involving the Franciscan Order and Dominican Order. Commissioners and interpreters connected to Hernán Cortés, Luis de Velasco (marqués de Salinas), Juan de Zumárraga, and scribes conversant with Nahuatl mediated the collaboration between indigenous painters and colonial administrators. Scholarship situates the production in relation to other sixteenth-century compilations like the Florentine Codex of Bernardino de Sahagún, the annals associated with Diego Durán, and pictorial records referenced by the Council of the Indies.

Provenance, Conservation, and Display

The pictorial folios entered European networks soon after creation and were transported to collections associated with figures such as Antonio de Mendoza and repositories in Spain and later acquired by collectors and institutions including the Bodleian Library and antiquarians in London and Paris. Conservation histories involve interventions by professionals affiliated with the Bodleian Library, British Museum, and conservation programs tied to the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia and university departments studying Mesoamerican codices under scholars like John Pohl and Eduardo Matos Moctezuma. Public display and facsimiles have been produced for exhibitions curated by institutions such as the Bodleian Library, British Museum, and the Biblioteca Nacional de España to permit study alongside related works like the Florentine Codex and the Borgia Group.

Category:Aztec codices Category:Mesoamerican manuscripts