Mappa Reinisch

A scarce 19th-century replica of an important Nahua Codex.

In the early colonial period of New Spain, the Spanish legal system allowed indigenous nobility to retain some of their lands, privileges, and titles if they could prove their hereditary rights. To do this, native elites commissioned artists to draw traditional pictorial histories and custom genealogies. These early Mesoamerican manuscripts, grouped broadly into a category of documents known as codices, provide an invaluable primary source for indigenous tradition and early colonial history.

This example, originally created in 1586, traces the lineage of important Mexica and Chichimeca chieftains using an interesting combination of glyphs, portraits, and connecting lines. Spanish transliterations of Nahuatl are accompanied by small pictorial elements – possibly identifying personal landholdings. The contents present a defined measure of personal history and private space, a legal document designed to afford a small measure of sovereignty and protect against further Spanish abuses.

The original manuscript codex, compiled on a single sheet of amate paper, has a fascinating history. It was first acquired by the prominent Austrian scholar and linguist Simon Leo Reinisch, probably during his time working as the Kaiser’s secretary in Mexico. This first purchase was how the piece acquired its name (Mappa Reinisch). He sold the sheet to French philologist Charles-Félix-Hyacinthe Gouhier, comte de Charencey, who then donated it to the Bibliothèque nationale de France in 1893. Before the donation was complete, in 1886, high-quality photogravure facsimiles were struck in Paris by the Dujardin firm. It is unknown how many were originally printed, but they are scarce survivors. There are only three listings in WorldCat as of July 2026 – at the Newberry Library, Cornell University, and the Bibliothèque nationale – with an additional example identified at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

Sources: Bibliothèque Nationale du France; Cornell University; Amoxcalli; Handbook of Middle American Indians;