Codex Becker I (Codex Iya Nacuaa), Fragment

This is one of the few surviving and thus extremely valuable illustrated Mexican manuscripts, the so-called Codex Becker I. Most manuscripts fell victim to the Spanish conquest and the Inquisition. The codex is named after Philipp Becker, the merchant from Darmstadt in Germany in whose collection it was.The codex was written in the 15th century and comes from western Oaxaca, an area colonised by the Mixtecs. On a total of sixteen pages it depicts stories from the lives of two Mixtex rulers, "Eight Deer" and "Four Wind", who lived in the 11th and 12th century. The detailed depictions of religious rituals are of particular importance.