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Joueur de flûte, danseur et buveur / Visages, 7 March 1957 Dated '7.3.57' upper right and signed 'Picasso' verso Unique White earthenware ceramic plaque with coloured englobe and glaze 10 x 12 in, 25.5 x 30.5 cm Provenance Christie's, New York, 12 February 1987, lot 117 Private Collection (acquired at the above) Private Collection (by descent from the above) Literature G. Ramié, Picasso's Ceramics, 1974, Barcelona, nos. 481-482, pp. 189 and 288, illus. Joueur de flûte, danseur et buveur / Visages is a wonderful double sided ceramic from March 1957. Picasso produced a series of six ceramic plates (reimagined as canvases) with one face inspired by mythology and the verso a grid of portraits. Five of the six, including the present, were created in a flurry of activity over three days at the Madoura pottery in Vallauris, South of France, which he had first come across while visiting the village a year prior. He worked closely with owners of the pottery, Suzanne and Georges Ramié, themselves artists. On the side dated 7 March 1957 is a scene reminiscent of the bacchanal. Picasso uses the classical blue and white colour palette of classical Dutch Delftware to depict the jubilant flautist, dancer and drinker. The figures, drawn with simple clean lines, exude energy, with the sweeping smudge marks creating a vibration of movement and dynamism across the scene. On the other side of Joueur de flûte, which Picasso signed, is a grid of nine playful caricatures. Picasso places each face within its own frame, asserting that it is a miniature in its own right, and experiments with line to individualise each frame. Picasso regularly created light-hearted sketches, drawing figures or characters from his imagination that amused him. Picasso mischievously presents this entire work as a tromphe l'oeil – a ceramic that is a canvas. He has placed black circles around the edge of the ceramic, to mimic the nails that hold the canvas onto the stretcher. Pablo Picasso 1881-1973 Pablo Picasso and Suzanne Ramié, Madoura, 1957 36