32 - Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973) Tête de Femme Couronnée de Fleurs (Pichet), Unique Ceramic, 1954 painted and glazed terracotta dated 20.3.54 (lower right); with Madoura and Empreinte Originale de Picasso stamps (on underside) height: 9 1/2 in. (24.1 cm) This lot is located in Philadelphia. Overall: 9 1/2 in. (24.1 cm) x 6 1/4 in. (15.9 cm) x 7 in. (17.8 cm) The Picasso Administration has reviewed the present work and will issue a certificate of authenticity for it mid-November, 2026. We also wish to thank the Comité Madoura for confirming the authenticity of the present Lot, and acknowledging it is a unique piece outside of the numbered edition. Provenance: The Artist. The Estate of the Artist (Inventory Number 57901). Collection of Marina Picasso, the Artist's daughter. Private Collection. Note: In 1946, Pablo Picasso discovered in the pottery workshops of Vallauris a medium that would become an important part of his artistic practice. Through his collaboration with Suzanne and Georges Ramié at the Madoura workshop, he explored the possibilities of earthenware, transforming traditional vessels into expressive forms that blurred the boundaries between painting, sculpture, and the decorative arts. By modelling, incising, and painting directly onto clay, Picasso embraced the material’s versatility to create an extraordinary variety of faces, animals, and fantastical figures. Conceived in 1954, Vase Femme Pichetis based on the model catalogued by Alain Ramié as no. 236, Tête de Femme Couronnée de Fleurs, produced in two editions: an unglazed white version of 50 and a coloured version of 100. The present work is a unique prototype, distinguished by its exceptionally delicate, chiselled floral crown. Against the softly rounded face, whose features are defined by bold, gestural brushstrokes, the flowers emerge in vivid relief, their rich green, yellow, and blue glazes accentuated by touches of red. This striking contrast between the spontaneity of Picasso’s painted lines and the refined sculptural treatment of the crown gives the work its singular character. Women were a recurring subject throughout Picasso’s career, and ceramics offered him a particularly inventive means of exploring the female face. Often reduced to a few expressive marks, his ceramic portraits transform familiar features into playful, animated forms. Here, the floral crown lends the figure an almost regal presence, while its asymmetrical modelling preserves the spontaneity and vitality characteristic of his work in Vallauris. Only two comparable examples are known: one made for Suzanne and Georges Ramié themselves, and another held in the Design Museum Den Bosch in the Netherlands.