# Bowl Depicting a Female Figure with Shield and Darts Motifs

- By: Teotihuacan (Teotihuacan, Mexico)
- Date: 300–600 CE
- Medium: Ceramic, plaster, and pigment
- Classification: Ceramics
- Dimensions: Diam.: 22.5 cm (8 7/8 in.)
- Culture: Valley of Mexico
- Credit line: African and Amerindian Art Purchase Fund
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/30739)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/ac08eb6b-a3ac-08de-c33b-075e1c93ca39/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

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.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0