The ethnographic and art historical literature reports the use of vegetable resins on Central African ceramics, specifically those made by the Kongo peoples. The purpose of this investigation was to develop a procedure for determining the nature of decorative coatings generally on African ceramics. The investigation focused on a group of Kongo ceramics. FTIR spectra of known resins were obtained and compared with several samples taken from Kongo ceramics. The ceramics were also examined under U.V. light. This paper discusses the results of the examinations and analysis.