As no methodology was found in the literature for characterizing ceramic pigments chemically and mineralogically, the present study was undertaken to establish a methodology for the chemical and phase characterization of ceramic pigments by x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry and x-ray diffraction (XRD). In view of the large number of pigments described in the literature (around 44), the present study was limited to characterizing pigments that contained chromium, which is the most versatile chromophore used in ceramics.