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Ramos Polychrome (Ramos Polícromo)

Diameter: 19 centimeters
Maxwell Museum Catalogue No. 68.13.33
Source: unknown

Typical characteristics of Ramos Polychrome include:

• Ivory to tan paste that lacks a carbon streak.
• The surface is unslipped but carefully polished.
• Red paint is always outlined in fine black lines (the exceptions include fine red framing lines and red lips).
• Black paint is used for solids (including in opposition to red solids), hachured elements, and fine lines that connect and integrate the painted designs.
• Painted designs feature two-fold or four-fold cylindrical rotational symmetry.
• The quality of work is often very high and indicates work by specialists. On the better pieces, symbolism is common and includes obvious to veiled allusions to horned serpents and birds. Other pieces are cruder, however, indicating that non-specialists also made this type

Di Peso defined "variants" of Ramos Polychrome. The "standard" variant includes fine linework and red solids outlined with fine black lines. The "Capulin" variant includes red solids not outlined in black. The "Memmott" variant includes designs that are entirely in black paint, except for framing lines. The "black-on-white" variant entirely lacks red paint. I recommend a simpler division, between the standard variant (subsuming the occasional rare examples of "Capulin") and the black-on-white variant (subsuming "Memmott").

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Photograph copyright © Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, University of New Mexico. A high-resolution verson of this photograph may be ordered from the Maxwell Museum's photo archives. Please make note of the catalogue number. For more information please visit the photo archives web page