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Green colors mentioned in historical sources are quiltic and yappalli, both of them obtained by mixing zacatlaxcalli and texotli, that is a yellow organic dye and Maya Blue, with the latter being a darker, even brownish one (Dupey García 2015, 156; 2016). Quiltic is then the most likely candidate as the Nahuatl name of one of the green colors detected on Codex Mendoza.

Discussion

In general terms, the pictorial imagery of the Codex Mendoza shows that a quite homogenous palette composed mostly of traditional painting materials of obvious pre-colonial origin was used. This is demonstrated by the use of carbon black (both for frame lines and painted areas), calcium carbonate, cochineal lake (for red and pink painted areas), Maya blue, and yellow/brown dyes. We would need a much higher number of measured points to map in detail the actual distribution of these coloring materials within the manuscript, but our results do not show clear evidence of changes in the palette. For example, although a yellow dye to paint yellow areas was only detected in Part 3, the same yellow dye was also detected as a chromatic component of green colors in both Parts 1 and 2.