This dissertation is a contextual analysis of 142 stuccoed and painted cylindrical tripod vessels, bowls, and jars from the ancient city of Teotihuacan, Mexico. The paintings associated with these ceramics have traditionally been thought of as derivative of mural paintings and assumed to have been created by muralists. Using a variety of viewing points, this study shows the ceramics are more closely linked to other portable art traditions. Though technologically diverse, there appear to be closer connections between stuccoed and painted and plano-relief decorated ceramics than the stucco paintings and murals. Recognition of this relationship raises questions regarding interactions among craft workshops in the city, the exchange of information among artisans, and producer/consumer relationships. In these contexts, the placement of unprovenienced pictorial ceramics within the current ceramic chronology is essential, as stuccoed and painted ceramics appear to have surged in popularity as the quantity and quality of plano-relief decorated wares declined.