The Codex Zouche-Nuttall or Codex Tonindeye is an accordion-folded pre-Columbian document of Mixtecpictography, now in the collections of the British Museum. It is one of about 16 manuscripts from Mexico that are entirely pre-Columbian in origin. The codex derives its name from Zelia Nuttall, who first published it in 1902, and Baroness Zouche, its donor.[1][2]
Description
The Codex Zouche-Nuttall was probably made in the 14th century and is composed of 47 sections of animal skin with dimensions of 19 cm by 23.5 cm. The codex folds together like a screen and is vividly painted on both sides,[3] and the condition of the document is by and large excellent. It is one of three codices that record the genealogies, alliances and conquests of several 11th and 12th century rulers of a small Mixtec city-state in highland Oaxaca, the Tilantongo kingdom, especially under the leadership of the warrior Lord Eight Deer Jaguar Claw[4] (who died in the early twelfth century at the age of fifty-two).[5]
G. Brotherstone, Painted books of Mexico (London, The British Museum Press, 1995)
C. McEwan, Ancient Mexico in the British (London, The British Museum Press, 1994)
F. Anders, M. Jansen and G. A. Pérez Jiménez, Códice Zouche-Nuttall, facsimile with commentary and line drawing (Madrid, Sociedad Estatal Quinto Centenario; Graz, Akademische Druck-u. Verlagsanstalt; Mexico City, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1992) Online pdf copy.
Facsimile: Codex Zouche-Nuttall; London, British Library, Add MS 39671, Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA) Graz 1987. Complete colour facsimile edition of the Mixtec pictorial manuscript in the possession of British Library, London, 96 fol., size: 245 x 191 mm, total length: 11,22 metres, in leporello folding; Commentary: Preface in German by F. Anders, Vienna. “Notes on the Codex Zouche-Nuttall” in English by N. P. Troike, Austin. Altogether 60 pp. Facsimile and introductory text encased in box with leather spine. CODICES SELECTI, Vol. LXXXIV
Robert Lloyd Williams: The Complete Codex Zouche-Nuttall: Mixtec Lineage Histories and Political Biographies (The Linda Schele Series in Maya and Pre-Columbian Studies) 2013, University of Texas Press, ISBN978-0292744387