ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS: IMAGES OF NEW SPAIN´S FEATHERWORKS IN THE FLORENTINE CODEX

Abstract

The Florentine Codex is a compendium of the fundamental features of the Nahua culture made in the second half of the sixteenth century by the Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún, together with a group of Nahua students and instructors. Among the features of Nahua culture referred to is feather art, which consists of the making of attires and ornaments by adhering feathers on a cloth or wood support. This article explores how the images contained in the Florentine Codex account for the key issues of feather art once it was used by European settlers in New Spain.