Fig. 5
In describing the god Tezcatlipoca, Pomar states that he was represented with “a mask with three stripes (vetas) of espejuelo (either transparent lamellated gypsum [selenite], or more probably obsidian), and two of gold, which crossed over the face.”[65] The idol was fashioned from wood in the figure of a man. Espejuelo, he states, was a kind of shining metal called tezcapoctli.
In the invocation to the god Paynal, which has been preserved to us in the original Mexican tongue by Sahagun, is the strophe, “yxiuh chimal, xiuhtica tlatzaqualli chimalli imax mani,” which has been translated by Seler, “the blue shield, covered with the turquois mosaic, hangs from his arm ... he carries the (blue mosaic) shield.”[66] This chapter was copied by Seler from the manuscript in the Real Palacio, Madrid. In the reproduction of the pictorial part of the manuscript published in colors by Troncoso, we find the representation of this deity, in which the mosaic shield is graphically drawn and painted blue (see our fig. 70, p. 17). Sahagun (book 1, chap. 2) briefly describes “this god called Paynal, who was a kind of under-captain of Huitzilopochtli.” He is said to have been a man adored as a god.
The Anonymous Conqueror affords valuable information regarding the use of shields. He says:
They use shields of various kinds, made of thick reeds which grow in that country, interwoven with cotton of double thickness, and they cover them with precious stones (turquois mosaic-work) and round plates of gold, which make them so strong that nothing can go through them, unless from a good crossbow. Some arrows, it is true, pierced them, but could do no harm. And because some of these shields have been seen in Spain, I say that they are not of the kind borne in war, but only those used in the festivals and dances which they are accustomed to have.[67]
In his chapter devoted to a consideration of “the finery that the lords used in their dances,” Sahagun mentions “bracelets of mosaic-work made of turquoises,” and also “masks worked in mosaic, and (having) false hair such as they now use, and some plumes of gold which came out of the masks.” He further describes the costumes, as follows:
They also wear attached to the wrists thick bands of black leather made soft with balsam, and decorated with a large bead of chalchihuitl or other precious stone. They also wore labrets of chalchihuitl set in gold, placed through the flesh, although they do not have this custom now. They also have these ornaments made of large rock-crystals, with blue feathers set in them, which give them the appearance of sapphires. They wear also many other precious stones protruding through openings made in the lower lip. The noses of the great lords are also pierced, and they wear in the openings fine turquoises and other precious stones, one on each side. They wear also some strings of precious stones around the neck; they wear a disc of gold hanging from a collar, and in the middle of it a plain precious stone, and around the circumference some pendants of pearls. They use bracelets of mosaic-work made of turquois, with some rich feathers which come out from them higher than the head, and bordered with rich plumes and gold, and some bands of gold which rise with the feathers.[68]
PL. XIV
