Codex Borgia.—Sheet 13: In this codex he is seen seated on a royal throne. His body and the lower part of his face are coloured red, the upper facial region is painted yellow, but contains a small, rectangular field, half-red and half-white, while round the mouth is executed a butterfly design, after the manner of Tonacatecutli and the maize-gods. His blue ear-plug has a jewelled thong dependent from it, and his nose-plug is reproduced in the colours of the chalchihuitl jewel. On his head he wears the strap decorated by two large jewelled disks. On the frontal side is the stereotyped bird-ornament, while from the whole, four ends branch off. Surmounting this representation is the symbol of the night-sky, the dusk-enveloped eye. His nape-ornament consists of red and white feathers blended together. On his breast is a large disk of gold, secured by strings of greenstone beads. His loin-cloth is adorned with jewelled disks, and to the back-bow is fastened a coxcoxtli bird’s head, which serves as a “mirror-tail,” or back-mirror. A portion of the ends of his loin-cloth is coloured like the chalchihuitl jewel. In front of his mouth is a flower from which two jewelled thongs project.
Codex Magliabecchiano.—The mantles worn by Xochipilli are alluded to in the MS. which accompanies the paintings in this codex as “mantas de un selo señor o de Cinco Rosas y manta de Cinco Rosas” (see sheets 5 and 6). There is also a picture of him on sheet 47. The figure on the red quemitl which he wears is similar to that worn on sheet 20 of Codex Borbonicus by the god Cinteotl, and is, perhaps, a butterfly motif.
(From the Sahagun MS.)
(From Codex Magliabecchiano, folio 35.)
FORMS OF XOCHIPILLI.
STATUES
Stone effigies of Xochipilli were set up in the tlachtli courts. In the Museo Naçional at Mexico there is a stone statue of the god which represents him as sitting cross-legged, as if watching the ball-game. He wears the mask of a player or dancer. By the aid of such statues of Xochipilli, which are [[200]]found in considerable numbers all over the eastern Mexican slope, the transition from the bird-helmet to the rudimentary crest may be studied.[40]
