Picasso ceramics to be auctioned

A clutch of one-off and hitherto unseen ceramic plates and dishes by Pablo Picasso are going under the hammer in Geneva on Thursday.

- AGNÈS PEDRERO

Emblematic motifs from Picasso's artistic universe — pigeons, fish, a goat, a bull, and a bird adorn the colourful plates and dishes.

“It’s a truly exceptional collection. The plates and dishes we have here are real Picasso works,” Bernard Piguet, director of the Piguet auction house in Geneva, said.

“These unique pieces belonged to Picasso's estate, and in the early 1980s, his heirs gave them to one of their friends.”

The close friend, a French art lover whose name has not been revealed, kept them until his death.

His heirs have decided to put the ceramics up for sale.

Made between 1947 and 1963 in the Madoura workshop in Vallauris on the southeast French coast, the ceramic artworks are being exhibited to the general public for the first time ahead of Thursday's auction.

The seven pieces are being sold in separate lots.