Picasso’s Visage No. 202 (£2,500-3,500). (Click on image to enlarge). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £17,500.
A chance to own your own Picasso at an affordable price arises at Christie’sin London next June. The Madoura Collection of Picasso Ceramics will be sold in South Kensington next June 25 and 26. No less than 550 pieces made at the Madoura Pottery in Vallauris, France are being offered by Alain Ramié. Estimates range from £100 up to £100,000. Alain Ramié is author of the catalogue raisonné of Picasso ceramic editions and son of the pottery owners Georges and Suzanne Ramié. Between 1947 and 1971 Picasso produced 633 plates, bowls, vases and pitchers in limited editions ranging from 25 to 500.
Some highlights from the Madoura Collection. Images courtesy Christie’s Images 2011. (Click to enlarge).
Christie’s specialist India Phillips commented: “Christie’s is privileged to be working with Alain Ramié to stage the single most important collection sale dedicated to Picasso’s Ceramics ever held. Never again will works of this quality and with such impeccable provenance be offered fresh to the market – direct from the Madoura Pottery where Picasso first fell in love with the medium and spent many of the happiest and most prolific years of his life. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for 20th century ceramics collectors and connoisseurs of Picasso’s work, and we are very pleased to be able to offer our clients works from such an esteemed source.”
Highlights will be shown in Paris, Hong Kong and London. The collection is expected to realise around £2 million.
UPDATE: THE two-day auction the Madoura Collection was 100% sold. It brought in £8,082,300, more than four times the pre-sale expectation. There were buyers from 43 different countries. The top lot was Grand vase aux femmes voilées, conceived in 1950 and executed in an edition of 25. It sold for more than ten-times the pre-sale estimate and realised £735,650.