The Codex Zouche-Nuttall or Codex Tonindeye is an accordion-folded

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...

document of

Mixtec The Mixtecs (), or Mixtecos, are indigenous Mesoamerican peoples of Mexico inhabiting the region known as La Mixteca of Oaxaca and Puebla as well as La Montaña Region and Costa Chica Regions of the state of Guerrero. The Mixtec Culture w ...

pictography A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is a graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and g ...

, now in the collections of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. It is one of about 16 manuscripts from Mexico that are entirely pre-Columbian in origin. The codex derives its name from

Zelia Nuttall Zelia Maria Magdalena Nuttall (6 September 1857 – 12 April 1933) was an American archaeologist and anthropologist specialised in pre-Aztec Mexican cultures and pre-Columbian manuscripts. She discovered two forgotten manuscripts of this type in ...

, who first published it in 1902, and Baroness Zouche, its donor.British Library, Codex Zouche-Nuttall
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Description

The Codex Zouche-Nuttall was probably made in the 14th century and is composed of 47 sections of animal skin with dimensions of 19 cm by 23.5 cm. The codex folds together like a screen and is vividly painted on both sides, and the condition of the document is by and large excellent. It is one of three codices that record the genealogies, alliances and conquests of several 11th and 12th century rulers of a small Mixtec city-state in highland

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

, the

Tilantongo Tilantongo was a Mixtec citystate in the Mixteca Alta region of the modern-day state of Oaxaca which is now visible as an archeological site and a modern town of Santiago Tilantongo. It is located at 17°15' N. Lat. and 97°17' W. Long. Its Mix ...

kingdom, especially under the leadership of the warrior Lord

Eight Deer Jaguar Claw Eight Deer Jaguar Claw ( mix, Iya Nacuaa Teyusi Ñaña ), or 8 Deer for brevity, was a powerful Mixtec ruler in 11th century Oaxaca referred to in the 15th century deerskin manuscript Codex Zouche-Nuttall, and other Mixtec manuscripts. His surn ...

(who died in the early twelfth century at the age of fifty-two).

Provenance

The codex probably reached Spain in the 16th century. It was first identified at the Monastery of San Marco, Florence, in 1854 and was sold in 1859 to

John Temple Leader John Temple Leader (7 May 1810 – 1 March 1903) was an English politician and connoisseur. Early life Born at his father's house, Putney Hill Villa, on 7 May 1810, he was the younger son of Mary and William Leader, a London merchant, and Whig ...

who sent it to his friend Robert Curzon, 14th Baron Zouche. A facsimile was published while it was in the collection of Baron Zouche by the

Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology is a museum affiliated with Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1866, the Peabody Museum is one of the oldest and largest museums focusing on anthropological material, with ...

, Harvard in 1902, with an introduction by

(1857–1933). The British Museum was loaned the manuscript in 1876 and acquired it in 1917. Ballcourt in the Coddex Nuttall

References

Facsimile edition
Introduction by Dr. Nancy Troike, University of Texas at Austi

Timeline of Mexico, 1000–1400 AD

Bibliography

*E.H. Boone, Stories in red and black: pict (Austin, University of Texas Press, 2000) * *G. Brotherstone, Painted books of Mexico (London, The British Museum Press, 1995) *C. McEwan, Ancient Mexico in the British (London, The British Museum Press, 1994) *F. Anders, M. Jansen and G. A. Pérez Jiménez, Códice Zouche-Nuttall, facsimile with commentary and line drawing (Madrid, Sociedad Estatal Quinto Centenario; Graz, Akademische Druck-u. Verlagsanstalt; Mexico City, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1992
Online pdf copy
* * *Facsimile: Codex Zouche-Nuttall; London, British Library, Add MS 39671, Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA) Graz 1987. Complete colour facsimile edition of the Mixtec pictorial manuscript in the possession of British Library, London, 96 fol., size: 245 x 191 mm, total length: 11,22 metres, in leporello folding; Commentary: Preface in German by F. Anders, Vienna. “Notes on the Codex Zouche-Nuttall” in English by N. P. Troike, Austin. Altogether 60 pp. Facsimile and introductory text encased in box with leather spine. CODICES SELECTI, Vol. LXXXIV *Robert Lloyd Williams: The Complete Codex Zouche-Nuttall: Mixtec Lineage Histories and Political Biographies (The Linda Schele Series in Maya and Pre-Columbian Studies) 2013, University of Texas Press, {{Commonscat 14th-century books Zouche-Nuttall Artefacts from Africa, Oceania and the Americas in the British Museum Mexico–United Kingdom relations

Description

Provenance

See also

References

Bibliography