Polished red bowl

The typical ceramics of the Post-Classic period have different finishes and typologies. One of them, of a ritual and very striking nature, has very colorful images on its sides, which are similar to the codices. Another style, of more common use, displays different geometric patterns in black on the orange clay. A third type uses a clay bath (engobe) as a base in red to change the surface of the piece, upon which a black or gray graphite decoration is applied. A much more common variant exhibits the clay without any decoration and, due to its high incidence, it was most likely the one that was used by the people in their daily lives.

This piece is a bowl with a base and a convex bottom. It has converging curved sides and a rounded edge. A natural clay engobe was applied from the base to the lower half of the body; in the upper part of the sides there is a band of red engobe, and later a graphite engobe was applied to the edge area. Inside there is a mixture of engobes: first a red engobe was applied on the body and at the bottom the engobe was changed to a more natural color.

A distinctive feature of this ceramic piece is the use of graphite in the engobe. Graphite is a carbon mineral that has a very particular metallic shine. In Pre-Columbian societies it was highly regarded and was applied as a covering for the vessels. The Olmec groups used this type of decoration in ceramic objects since the Preclassic, although it is also present in Northern Mexico and the Oaxaca area.

In order to discuss graphite decoration in ceramic pieces, it is necessary to consider the trade and exchange routes that existed in Mesoamerica. This is mainly due to the fact that there are only four important deposits of this mineral in Mexico: in the northern zone of Baja California Norte, in the southern zone of Sonora, in the region of la Montaña in Guerrero and in the Mixteca of Oaxaca.

This distribution explains the predominance of tableware with graphite decoration among the Pre-Columbian cultures of northern Mexico and Oaxaca, although this mineral is found in the tableware of cultural groups from other regions, which indicates that intense trading was taking place between the different societies, facilitating the arrival of elements from the northern zone to the Mayan area and vice versa; being the center of Mexico, it was a vital age.

Defining the place of origin of the graphite that was used in this piece is more than complicated and for which materiality studies are needed. between both regions (northern Mexico and the area of Guerrero and Oaxaca) in the Post-Classic was a fact. We are aware that much of the turquoise that was used in the late Post-Classic came from the southern region of the United States of America and the north of what we now call Mexico; therefore, the possibility that graphite is originally from this area is feasible. However, it is more likely to come from the regions of Guerrero and Oaxaca, since there was greater with this area, which is visible in the use of similar iconography.

Likewise, we must that several peoples from f this area were paying tribute to the Mexicas, so it is more probable that the origin of the graphite would be the deposits of Guerrero and Oaxaca. Finally, another element that could point to the same region is that this tableware was very common and therefore it was necessary to use large amounts of graphite for its preparation; therefore, it would be easier to trade and transfer it from nearby regions rather than northern Mexico.

Regardless of which of these possibilities we more inclined toward, this piece from the Amparo Museum collection reveals, through its materiality and the covering of its sides, a small piece of information that speaks of a dynamic, versatile period, where raw materials and products moved from one region to another.