Pablo PICASSO (1881 – 1973)
Cavalier et cheval (A. R. 137)
Terre de faïence pitcher, painted in colored engobes, knife engraved and partially glazed.
1952
Numbered 72/300 and inscribed ‘Edition Picasso’ and ‘Madoura’,
with the Edition Picasso and Madoura stamps (underneath).
Height: 210 mm. / 8¼ in.
Literature:
– Alain RAMIÉ, “Picasso, Catalogue of the edited ceramic works 1947-1971”, another version ill. p.77, no.137.
– Georges Ramié, ‘Picasso’s Ceramics’, another version ill. p. 278., no. 707.
Provenance:
Sotheby’s New York, “Picasso Prints & Ceramics”, 23 Nov. 2020, lot 29.
Condition:
The ceramic is in excellent condition, apart from minor surface soiling, with vivid and strong colors.
Horses and riders threaded through Picasso’s imagination for decades, from his early circus scenes to the bullfighting imagery of his later years, and this pitcher shows that fascination distilled into three dimensions. The vessel’s rounded body becomes the horse and rider themselves, its form and glaze doing double duty as both function and figure — a hallmark of Picasso’s genius at Madoura, where he treated the potter’s wheel as a sculptor’s armature rather than a constraint. Knife-engraved lines cut through vivid colored engobes, giving the composition the same energetic, economical draftsmanship found in his works on paper, now made physical and held in the hand.
Conceived in 1952, at the true height of his ceramic period, this pitcher is numbered 72/300 and bears both the Edition Picasso and Madoura stamps to the underside. It is published in the two essential references on the artist’s ceramic work, Alain Ramié’s catalogue (p. 77, no. 137) and Georges Ramié’s Picasso’s Ceramics (p. 278, no. 707), and carries the kind of provenance collectors look for: sold through Sotheby’s New York in its dedicated “Picasso Prints & Ceramics” sale in November 2020. The piece is in excellent condition overall, with vivid, strong color retained across the surface.
For a buyer, this is Picasso’s sculptural imagination at its most direct and charming — a functional object transformed into a compact figural sculpture, fully documented, auction-vetted, and carrying the unmistakable wit and economy of line that define his best ceramic work.