[Codex Santa María Tetelpan]

Creator

Paso y Troncoso, Francisco del Bello J., Luis Sharpe, Henry Dexter

Place

[Mexico City?]

Date

[between 1700 and 1748]

Notes

This manuscript is included in a group known as the "Techialoyan codices" and is prepared on native "amatl" paper made from the bark of the fig tree

Dating is based on anachronisms of content and style, and details such as the character of paper and ink. For a detailed study of the dating methods, see "Techialoyan manuscripts and paintings, with a catalog" by Donald Robertson, printed in The handbook of middle American Indians, v. 14, article 24, no. 713

Title supplied by reference work entitled "Codice techialoyan de Santa María Tetelpan" printed in Mexico, 2020. Previous to the publication of this work, it was more commonly known as the Coyoacán Codex

Ms. codex

Includes hand colored depictions of people and animals

Long believed to be a 16th century manuscript, this work is now thought to have been prepared in the early 18th century by the residents of Mazetepec/Tetelpan, in defense against challenges to the village boundaries. The indigenous techniques employed for such narrative paintings as these were still being used 200 years after the conquest. Combining traditional water color paintings with text in the Nahuatl language, the preparers sought to imitate original landholding documents of the 16th century

Local notes

John Carter Brown Library copy acquired as a gift from Henry Dexter Sharpe

John Carter Brown Library copy imperfect: initial and final leaves are torn and mutilated and backed with modern paper; many leaves are faded and now illegible; all leaves are highly delicate. A photocopy and photostat copy are catalogued under shelfmark: facsim. Codex Ind 1 2-SIZE and should be viewed instead of the original

John Carter Brown Library copy has photocopy of "Techialoyan manuscripts and paintings, with a catalog" by Donald Robertson, printed in The handbook of middle American Indians, v. 14, article 24, no. 713, housed in JCB bibliographical file

John Carter Brown Library copy is bound up in heavy cord between two modern sheets of white paper and housed in half bound red cloth slip case with red morocco spine and corners measuring 28 cm. tall

Provenance of the John Carter Brown Library copy: J. Luis Bello: autograph stamp on recto of modern front paper wrapper; Francisco de Paso y Troncoso: information from JCB bibliographical file