LONDON.- On 5 April 2016 in London, Sotheby’s will hold a sale of Important Ceramics by Pablo Picasso. From 1947 to the early 1970s, Picasso's engagement with ceramics resulted in a body of work created with the same passion as his paintings, sculptures and prints. Characterised by a remarkable sense of freedom and innovation, the comprehensive group of over 230 lots ranges in estimate from £800 upwards to £80,000.

It was in the summer of 1946 – during a stay at the nearby coastal resort of Golfe Juan – that Picasso first met Suzanne Douly and Georges Ramié in their now famed Madoura studio in the town of Vallauris, which they had opened in 1938. During his chance meeting with the Ramiés, he was so excited by ceramic as a medium that he immediately sat down on a bench and spent the afternoon modelling small clay animals in his hands. The experience was to prove deeply compelling to Picasso and he became attracted by the artistic possibilities and challenges that clay offered. His highly creative approach is found not only in the decoration of his ceramics, but in his daring treatment of the clay forms.

Pottery always had a special significance for Picasso by virtue of its direct links through materials, techniques and forms to ancient Mediterranean tradition. Running concurrently with his other work, his ceramics allowed him a rich interchange between ideas about imagery and form.

Taken with the idea that anyone could buy, use or even decorate their homes with them, Picasso was persuaded by Suzanne Ramié to make numbered editions of some of his ceramics. These multiples, of which there are 633, were usually made in editions of 25 to 500. The editions were either impressions (empreintes originales) taken from moulds worked on by Picasso – some of which were left unpainted or were worked on by Madoura staff following original Picasso designs – or authorised replicas of his original designs.

The opportunities for invention by fusing together the arts of painting and sculpture coincided with the spirit of optimism and renewal Picasso felt in the post-war period. He reinvigorated the tradition of ceramics with an inexhaustible array of forms, techniques and imagery, and through his editions he shared his vision with the world.

Tripode
Large terre de faïence vase, 1951, numbered 47/75
Estimate £80,000-120,000

• Picasso devised this design from one of the shapes Suzanne Ramié derived from an ancient Cypriot pot

• He has decorated the front and back with a depiction of Françoise Gilot (his lover and muse), and shows her resting her head in her hands

• The pot rests on three bowls: the circular bowl at the back is painted as two breasts, the bowls at the front resemble a puff sleeve blouse

Joueur de diaule
Terre de faïence dish, 1947, numbered 87/200
Estimate: £7,000-8,000

• The earliest and first Picasso design to be made as an edition

• Picasso considered the shape of the long plate analogous to a head; this pipe player depicts the mythological faun

Taureau
Terre de faïence pitcher, 1955, numbered 40/100,
Estimate £40,000-50,000

• When Picasso took up ceramics, he imbued his work with subjects which reflect a preoccupation with the concept of metamorphosis

• With Taureau, he saw the possibility of turning a traditional water jug into a bull

• Picasso completes the transformation with the rear of the bull painted on the back, and the tail acting as a handle

• Picasso left the pot unglazed, which gives a sense of the animal’s hide, while the strip of yellow at the bottom evokes the sand of the arena

Tarasque
Terre de faïence pitcher partially glazed in colors, 1954, numbered 33/50
Estimate £30,000-50,000

• Picasso ceramics also reflect a preoccupation with classic mythological characters and creatures, such as fauns, nymphs and centaurs

• While working in Vallauris in 1954, Picasso was inspired by the local mythology of the legendary Provençal monster, the Tarasque, a hybrid with a lion's head, the body of an ox, bear's legs and a curved scorpion's tail

Service visage noir
The terre de faïence set, comprising one dish and 12 plates, 1948, from the edition of 100 Estimate: £30,000-50,000

• Created in 1948, the service drew public attention to Picasso’s activities in ceramics the following year, when the first set was presented as a wedding gift to Prince Aly Khan and Rita Hayworth

• All 13 pieces are decorated with the heads of fauns

Gros oiseau Picasso
Large terre de faïence vase, 1953, numbered 35/75
Estimate £60,000-80,000

• As his own technical understanding grew, Picasso was able to manipulate and completely transform the traditional shapes and decorative devices used in pottery to create new designs of his own

• In Gros oiseau Picasso, he manipulates the form of the classical hydria and its resemblance to a bird to produce one of his boldest and largest ceramics, where the handles function as wings

• Picasso emblazoned his signature on the front and Vallauris on the back

In 1963 Picasso worked on plaster casts for a series of faces, using a carving technique which allowed the features to appear raised above the surface on the final ceramics. These were issued in both white and red earthenware versions.

• Visage au masque de chevrons, Terre de faïence plate, 1963, numbered 58/100
Estimate £1,500-2,500

• Visage au masque de chevrons, Terre de faïence plate, 1963, numbered 31/100
Estimate £1,500-2,500

• Visage au gros nez, Terre de faïence plate, 1963, numbered 27/100
Estimate £1,500-2,500

• Visage au gros nez, Terre de faïence plate, 1963, numbered 18/100
Estimate 1,500-2,500

Visage no. 192
Terre de faïence plate, 1963, numbered 19/150
Estimate £5,000-7,000

• 1963 saw a renewal of activity after a pause in the issue by Madoura of Picasso Editions

• The production of more than 50 patterns of plates, chosen from a series of over 200 designs, included many painted faces, frequently highly coloured

Picasso produced a large number of unique ceramics, from plates and vases to tiles and simple ceramic shards. These offer an incomparable insight into his work in clay, where Picasso's imagination was matched by the malleability of the ceramicist's medium.

Deux poissons
Unique terre de faïence dish, dated 25.2.67
Estimate: £25,000-35,000

• Picasso populated the surfaces of his plates with both mythological and natural references, including birds, fish and octopus

• Painted on ceramic domestic ware since antiquity, fish imagery was also traditional in Spanish ceramics, and often featured on medieval platters

Caractère
Unique terre de faïence tile, 1962
Estimate £20,000-30,000

• This tile makes reference to Greek vase painting with its predominantly red and black colouring.