Art Institute of Chicago

Bowl Depicting a Female Figure with Shield and Darts Motifs

Teotihuacan

Date

300–600 CE

Medium

Ceramic, plaster, and pigment

Culture

Valley of Mexico

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Teotihuacan ceramic vessels were often fired and coated with a fine plaster that was then painted with figures and symbolic elements. This technique was derived from methods employed by mural painters, who covered masonry walls with fine plaster to serve as the ground for large-scale frescoes. The flaming torch may well allude to the ceremony of New Fire, kindled at New Year’s festivals and every 52 years at the inauguration of a new “century” in the native calendar system.

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