Title: Tula documents

Date: 1605-30

Language(s): Nahuatl and Spanish

SCOPE AND CONTENTS

Legal statements, wills, and deeds in Nahuatl and Spanish. Some of the Spanish is a translation of the Nahuatl. The 19th leaf is a printed legal form, dated 1608.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Material and Layout: Paper; 29 leaves; 31 x 21 cm.

Binding: Unbound sheets in slipcase

PROVENANCE

Garrett deposited this manuscript at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton in 1942 at which time he described them briefly in the "Garrett Collection List No. 3." Garrett donated the item along with several other manuscripts to the Princeton University Library in 1949.

Title: Tula Documents

Date: 1571-1617

Language(s): Nahuatl and Spanish

SCOPE AND CONTENTS

Includes the last will and testament in Nahuatl of Toribio Feliciano, 1571 (2 fols.); legal statement in Nahuatl concerning a will followed by a certification in Spanish by Fray Juan de la Torre, Guardian of the Convent of Tula that the masses specified in the will have been said 1604 (2 fols.); last will and testament in Nahuatl of Maria Hernandez, an Indian of Tula. 1617 (2 fols.).

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Material and Layout: Paper; 5 leaves; 32 x 22 cm.

Binding: Unbound sheets in slipcase

PROVENANCE

Early provenance unknown. Garrett deposited this manuscript at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton in 1942 at which time he described them briefly in the "Garrett Collection List No. 3." Garrett donated the item along with several other manuscripts to the Princeton University Library in 1949.

Title: Mexican Indian Pictorial Manuscript

Date: ca. 1890-1910

SCOPE AND CONTENTS

Manuscripts copy. Probably represents a Central Mexican Indian ritual-calendrical scene. The composition combines details copied or adapted from various well known pre conquest Borgia Group and Mixtec Indian screen folds. Its style is similar to various falsifications that have been attributed, on dubious authority, to Genaro Lopez, a Mexican draftsman in the employ of the Mexican National Museum in the late 19th century. The verso is blank.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Material Layout: Paper; 1 leaf; 58 x 58 cm.

Decoration: contains drawings colored in blue, green, yellow, brown, blue-gray, and tan.

PROVENANCE

A memorandum by Garrett dated Dec. 18, 1936, states, "this 'lienzo' is supposedly a forgery. It came to me with the Gates collection of Mayan manuscripts, but is not listed." The document is not identifiable in the 1942 listing of the Garrett collection and may have been brought to the Princeton University Library in 1949.

Title: Lienzo de San Pedro Ixcatlan

Date: 1775-1850

Language(s): Nahuatl with some Spanish

SCOPE AND CONTENTS

The lienzo is a map of a region around San Pedro Ixcatlan in the ex-district of Tuxtepec in the Mazatec Indian area of northern Oaxaca, Mexico. At the center is an historical scene and a Nahuatl text that describe the arrival of the Spanish conquistador, Juan Marques, in 1521, the baptism of an Indian lord who took the name of Juan de Mendoza, and an encomendero of the de Nava family, encomenderos of Ixcatlan from about 1546-1603. Several rivers are also shown as are a number of place glyphs and mountains, most of which are glossed in Nahuatl. Near the center is a long text in Nahuatl and elsewhere, particularly around the periphery, are 19 glossed place names, 18 of which are in Nahuatl. Other titles: Lienzo de San Pedro Ixcatlan; San Miguel Soyaltepec; Lienzo de Tuztepec.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Material and Layout: Cloth; 1280 x 1380 mm.

PROVENANCE

Early provenance unknown. Robert Garrett donated the item to Princeton University Library in 1949.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

In his Apuntes historicos, Mariano Espinosa (1910: 49-68; 1961: 93-107) mentioned and described most of the places represented by glosses on the lienzo as forming part of the Mazatec "Señorio del Sur" (Seignory of the South). His descriptions appear to derive from the lienzo as well as from other sources. Utilizing various lines of evidence Howard F. Cline has located most of these places on a modern map of the Ixcatlan region. Cline has also identified the place shown on the lienzo as a house painted behind the baptismal scene as Ixcatlan, called "Ayizcatl" by Espinosa. Cline named the copy which he studied the "Lienzo de San Pedro Ixcatlan - San Miguel Soyaltepec."
See also Barbara E. Mundy, "National Cartography and Indigenous Space in Mexico," in Early American Cartographers, edited by Martin Brückner (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2011), pp. 380-388.

Title: Lienzo de la Gran Chinantla

Date: 1550-99

Language(s): Nahuatl with some Spanish

SCOPE AND CONTENTS

The lienzo is a map of the region near the modern San Juan Bautista Valle Nacional in the Chinantec region of northern Oaxaca, Mexico. Shown on the map are several rivers, 37 native houses with thatch roofs, and surrounding mountains. Most of the houses are in pairs; within the doorway of one house is a Christian cross (representing the Church) and an Indian seated on a stool with a vertical back (representing the "tecpan" or government house) is depicted within the doorway of the other. At the center are three larger houses. The largest of these is identified by a sewn-on glossed slip of paper as Santa Maria la Natividad Chinantla Grande, the probable provenance of this native document. Near these central houses are several groups of Indians seated on small stools. Two of the Indians are identified by gloss number 5 (see below) Encircling three sides of the central part of the composition and extending across much of the lienzo is a long line of Indians, most of whom face in the same direction. At the beginning of the line only the heads of the Indians are shown. Toward the end of the line the Indians are shown seated on small stools and dressed in native costume. Most of the Indians in this line are men but the final figure is a woman. The next to the last figure is a man dressed in a black costume and hat. Some of the outlines of the figures have been strengthened with a very black ink and the black hats worn by the man mentioned above and by another near the center may be later additions. Other titles: Mapa de la Gran Chinantla, Añp de 1521; Mapa de la Gran Chinantla.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Material and Layout: Cloth; 1280 x 1380 mm.

Decoration: Slightly below and also underneath the seated figures toward the end of the long curved line of Indians the bleached-out remains of an earlier painting is evident. This palimpsest was a continuation of the row of heads at the beginning of the line. The bleach used to eradicate the earlier heads has also affected the later seated figures. Since the added figures are clearly in the style of Mexican Indian manuscript painting of the 16th century, they are probably nearly contemporary with the original composition. Elsewhere on the painting other slightly bleached or faded areas are visible but without evidence of palimpsests; in some cases this effect appears to be associated with the red coloring. Only four hieroglyphic elements are present and none of these are personal name glyphs or calendrical dates. The glyphs present are rebus signs used to identify place names. A turtle ("Ayotl" in Nahuatl) is drawn above the house bearing gloss number 32, "San Pedro Ayosintepeque." Above the house with gloss number 35 is a "Nopal" cactus; this clearly refers, however, to the house with gloss number 36, "Santa Maria Nra. Señora de Rosario Nopalen." This discrepancy between the location of the artist's place sign and the glossed identification indicates that the identifications made by the glosses may be inaccurate in some instances. To the side of the mountain with gloss 39 is a deer's head ("Mazatl" in Nahuatl) but the mountain is identified as "El Rio Cabra" (Spanish for River of the Goat). At the head of the river identified a "Rio de Pajarito" (River of the Little Bird) by gloss number 38 is the drawing of a bird. It may be noted that a number of the mountains on two sides of the lienzo are represented by the conventionalized "tepetl" or hill sign, a frequent element in rebus place glyphs.

PROVENANCE

In 1946 or 1947 Howard Cline spoke to Mariano Espinosa concerning the lienzo. Espinosa told him that it was owned by him until 1916 when it was stolen from him in a hotel in Veracruz during evens of the Mexican revolution (Cline, 1961a: 57, Cline, 1961b: 196). Robert Garrett ostensibly acquired the lienzo from C. C. James in Mexico in October of 1931. It was lent to the Walters Art Gallery in 1939. Garrett deposited this manuscript at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton in 1942 at which time he described them briefly in the "Garrett Collection List No. 3." Garrett donated the item along with several other manuscripts to the Princeton University Library in 1949. There is a tag that reads "Lienzos (3) from C. C. James, Mexico, Oct. 1931." and on verso "1 Lienzo (forgery) in envelope (gates) 3 Lienzos (1 on deerskin, 2 on linen) belonging to Mr. Robert Garrett. Jany. 5, 1939." and also "Return to Mr. Garrett Jan. 18, 194? [partially broken off and illegible]. Another label that reads "Walters Art Gallery loan 7-8-1939." Part of the tag has broken off and is missing. Part of that tag reads "Returned to Mr. Garrett Jan. 18, 1945. M. #5, 1934."

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Espinosa, Mariano. Apuntes históricos de las tribus chinantecas, mazatecas y populucas (1910). Reedición con notas y apéndices preparada por Howard F. Cline (México, Museo Nacional de Antropología, 1961).

The two studies by Howard F. Cline (1961a; 1961b) each contain a study of the lienzo and a reproduction of the Mariano Espinosa photograph. The more specific study (Cline, 1961b) contains more detail and illustrations.

Title: Aztec Map on Deerskin

Date: 1500s

Language(s): Nahuatl

SCOPE AND CONTENT

16th-century copy of an Aztec map painted on deerskin in blue, green, red, yellow, grey, and black pigments with Nahuatl glosses.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Material and Layout: Cloth; 1280 x 1380 mm.

PROVENANCE

Acquired from C. C. James, Mexico by Robert Garrett Jan. 5, 1939. Garrett probably added this item to his collection at Princeton University Library in 1949.

RESTRICTIONS

Due to the fragility of the original map, researchers must refer to the high-resolution online image (click on the image here) or use on-site printed color surrogates (28 x 34 cm.).