Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the images included in the Libellus de medicinalibus indorum herbis, a manuscript produced in New Spain in 1552. Considered as an indigenous object, we analyze the general disposition of the material object, the relation between texts and images, and the visual representation of the medical herbs and their roots. The characterization of the figurative solutions present in these images sustains their portrayal as a visual discourse that appropriates and translates a vast and diverse set of techniques, forms and types of signs, in order to present the Mexican medical matter from an authorized indigenous point of view. It is by this means that they dialogue with the Mesoamerican cultural horizon and its understanding of the vertical structure of the cosmos and the balance of elements