The Origin of Codex Laud’s Artists: An Enigma

Abstract

This article is a synthesis of broader research concerning the Codex Laud. It focuses on the problem of its provenance and, indirectly, on the “Borgia Group”. It presents the stylistic qualities of this pictographic manuscript, including its materials and pictorial technique, and analyses the arguments offered by other researchers surrounding the enigma of its origin. It also presents stylistic and iconographic comparisons between the Codex Laud and other works of art —mural paintings, polychrome pottery, reliefs and sculptures— from six different Mesoamerican regions. Through an iconographic analysis the Codex Laud is recognized as a Nahuatl pre-Hispanic pictographic document and the Tehuacán region is proposed as its possible place of origin.