General.—In Codex Borgia (sheet 14) she is depicted wearing a blue, stepped nose-ornament and a serpent helmet-mask. In the Codex Fejérváry-Mayer is seen a jaguar’s ear behind the serpent’s eye in more than one representation of her helmet-mask. In Codex Borgia she wears a large golden disk (teocuitla-comalli) suspended by a jewelled band. Her robe has a broad hem, in which the colours of the hieroglyph chalchihuitl, green and red, with a white fringe, are reproduced, thus forming a kind of pictograph of her name. The same purpose is served by a large blue disk in the middle of the skirt.[31] In Codex Vaticanus B she holds the bone-dagger and agave spike for ceremonial blood-letting. She stands on foaming water, on which floats a burnt-offering of firewood and rubber.
In the Aubin tonalamatl she is pictured as standing in a stream, down which swirl away a jewel-box, an armed man, and a woman.
Variations.—The representations of Chalchihuitlicue in the Codex Borgia group, where she is dressed in the snake-helmet, [[258]]are substantially different from her appearance in the Aubin tonalamatl, the Codex Borbonicus, and elsewhere.
In the Codex Borbonicus (sheet 5) the insignia of the goddess is heavily spotted, the significance being by no means plain.[32] The representation in the Sahagun MS. (Biblioteca del Palacio) also differs, and in this the goddess is seen holding a rattle and wearing what seems to be an interesting variant of the jewel hieroglyph.
CHALCHIHUITLICUE.
Stone figure from the Christy Collection.
In Codex Borgia (sheet 57) she is represented along with her spouse Tlaloc, the chalchihuitl jewel in the form of a two-handed pitcher separating them. The gods hold chains of jewels representing the four kinds of maize—yellow, blue, red, and green—and a naked human being issues from the pitcher, symbolizing the growth of the maize.[33]
Other interesting variations in connection with this goddess are those found in Codex Vaticanus B and Codex Borgia (sheet 17), in both of which she is seen suckling a human being. In the former she wears on the head two bunches of quetzal-feathers, usually part of the insignia of Xochiquetzal, and she is only to be recognized by the symbol beside her, a variant of the element chalchihuitl.
Sahagun describes her as follows in the Biblioteca del Palacio MS.: “The face is yellow, with a red pattern superimposed. She wears a collar of green precious stones, and a crown of paper adorned with a quetzal-feather. The tunic and skirt are painted with water lines, and she wears shells. Her sandals represent the foam of water. On her shield is painted the emblem of a water flower, and she carries the “mist rattle-staff.” Statuettes of Chalchihuitlicue are fairly common. One found in the Valley of Mexico agrees to some [[259]]extent with her appearance in the Aubin tonalamatl, but not with that in Codex Borgia. She wears the tasselled shawl and the chalchihuitl emblem adorns her dress. Two other stone figures of her in the Uhde collection at Berlin and one in the Christy collection at London are eloquent of her insignia. In all of these she wears the tasselled shawl, and in the Christy example and one of the Uhde figures the large back-bow is well exemplified, as are the two plaits of hair descending at the back. In the other Uhde specimen the plates are shown as part of a knot of the cotton headdress, which is in all cases fringed with balls. In all three figures large, full bands of some material descend over the ear. A stone figure of her, found at the Castillo de Teayo in Vera Cruz and now in the National Museum at Mexico, depicts her with a square headdress, from which radiate what are evidently the feathers of aquatic birds. She wears the V-shaped shawl or tippet and a skirt, on each side of which the chalchihuitl emblem is shown and which is fringed with shells. Teobert Maler reproduces another stone figure of her wearing a high headdress of feathers and a necklace and wristlets of chalchihuitls.