brushes and pens

[Juergen Stowasser]

Unfortunately the colonial sources are giving less information about
painting tools than about the process of making amatl-paper or the use
of colours.
As Michael Coe and Justin Kerr are pointing out, the Maya scribes used
quill and reed pens and conches as painting pots (cf Michael Coe/Justin
Kerr 1997:  The Art of the Maya scribe. London; cf also J Kerr´s web
essai: http://www.mayavase.com/sabak/sabak.html ). For the Maya, writing
implements are documented by grave goods and iconography (cf the Grolier
Codex or some vessels of Kerr´s Maya vase database at famsi.org).

Brushes are also depicted in Mixtec and Nahua codices such as C.
Mendoza, Telleriano-Remensis (with a female tlacuilo) or C.
Vindobonensis. Nelly Gutiérrez Solana (Códices de México. México 1992)
mentions rabbit brushes used by the Mexica (if I remember well - don´t
have the book here at hand).
Fray Molina´s "Vocabulario" (1555)  lists the following the devices:
a) painting pots:
- tliltecomatl (tintero para pintar)
- tlacuiloltecomatl (paint container)
b) tlacuiloluapalli - tablilla para escribir
c) totolacatecomatl - caja de escribanía (totolin-acatl-tecomatl): so
the Mexica used also (at least in the colonial period) turkey pens
(totolacatl) ...

hope that helps a bit
Juergen Stowasser

PS: Maybe someone of the list-memebers knows more about archaeological
evidence of brushes and paint containers in Central Mexico?
--
Juergen Stowasser
Burggasse 114/2/8
A-1070 Wien - Vien(n)a
Austria
tel: 01/ 524 54 60  v  0676/ 398 66 79
http://www.univie.ac.at/meso