Bowl Depicting a Female Figure with Shield and Darts Motifs 300 CE-600 CE Valley of Mexico. 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 Yearís festivals and every 52 years at the inauguration of a new ìcenturyî in the native calendar system.. Ceramic, plaster, and pigment . Teotihuacan