¤ PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973) PLAT 'COLOMBE', 1949 earthenware, incised and painted with engobes and metallic oxides under glaze Signed, dated '10.11.49' and dedicated 'Pour Monsieur Ramié' Dated '10.11.49' again and marked 'Madoura/Plein feu' on the back Unique copy Earthenware, painted, engraved and glazed; signed, dated '10.11.49' and dedicated 'Pour Monsieur Ramié'; dated again '10.11.49' and 'Madoura/Plein feu' stamp on the underside; this work is unique 38,5 X 31 CM - 15 1/8 X 12 1/4 IN. PROVENANCE Collection Georges et Suzanne Ramié, Vallauris. Then by descent. A certificate from Monsieur Claude Picasso, dated 10 November 2020, will be given to the buyer. "After the Second World War, my father passionately explored the possibilities offered by ceramics, including the different techniques of painting with slip, glaze and cover. For more than twenty years, he modelled, designed, decorated, engraved and sculpted some three thousand five hundred clay objects. The originality and creativity of this body of work have given him an important place in the history of 20th century ceramics. One hundred and sixty-three terracotta creations were also cast in bronze, generally better known as sculptures than in their original ceramic form. Other sculptures were first made in plaster before being cast in bronze or ceramic; some of these were then reworked and decorated with engobe and glaze, thus completing the range of possibilities offered by this medium. I don't think any major artist of the 20th century showed as much interest in this often neglected area of art as my father. With the exception of the rare forays attempted by Matisse, Chagall and a few others, the only comparable adventure was that of Miró, in collaboration with his friend and compatriot Josep Llorens Artigas. But this involvement of Picasso, so personal, on the fringe of fashion and of his time, has only recently received its due recognition. [...] Finally, my father never saw himself as a ceramist: he approached this medium as he did others, exploring the resources offered by the materials and techniques of the pottery workshop, testing their intrinsic qualities and possibilities, in order to tirelessly invent his work." Claude Picasso, "Je ne cherche pas, je trouve", in Picasso, Peintre et sculpteur sur argile, Éditions de la Martinière, Paris: 1988, p. 12. "In the first period of his work at the Madoura workshop in Vallauris, starting in September 1947, Picasso used standard, press-moulded dishes and produced more than a thousand unique pieces in two years. The artist worked on the dishes before the clay was completely dry, often gouging or incising their surface; he also experimented with different oxides, slips, glazes and glazes." Marilyn Mc Cully [edited by], Picasso, Peintre et sculpteur sur argile, Éditions de la Martinière, Paris: 1988, p. 185.