Pablo Picasso, Polychrome Bird, 1947

Set within a brilliant crème white background and framed within a bath of light blue surrounding the rim of the dish, our Polychrome Bird is perhaps one of the brightest and most detailed birds portrayed in Picasso's ceramics. The striking coloration of teal blue, violet, and pink is accented with engraved, decorative lines in the background; taking this effect of texture one step further, Picasso has added quite an interesting sculptural element for the bird's eye, using a separate circular clay piece to accent the its pupil. Simple finishing touches of black strokes help anchor and highlight the bird within the concave center of this rectangular dish.

Created in 1947, this original Madoura ceramic dish is made of white, earthenware clay with decoration in engobes and oxides. A boring-rod engraving technique has been utilized on the surface decoration of the work and glazed in grey, pink, green, blue, and black. Handwritten inscription of archive and edition number is on the underside of the plate, 'J106 | 51/200' with inscribed stamps of 'MADOURA PLEIN FEU' and 'EDITION PICASSO'. Out of the total edition of 200 works produced.

Illustrated in:

1) Ramié, A. (1988) Picasso Catalogue of the edited ceramic works 1947-1971. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 33 on pg. 35 (another variant illustrated).
2) Ramié, G. (1976) Picasso's Ceramics. Viking Press: NY. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 756 on pg. 281.

Provenance:

~ From the William Haber Collection (Westport, CT, USA)

About the Framing:

This resplendent custom frame is the perfect elegant compliment to this remarkable work. Framing begins with white, linen-wrapped wooden liners that securely hold the ceramic and allow visibility in the back (to view markings). An elegant, Baroque bronze frame encases the wood liners and perfectly complements the sleek white coloration within the ceramic. A heavy weight picture wire is attached to the frame to ensure a secure hanging. Due to the size and weight of this piece, we recommend using a heavy duty double nail hook with 100-150 pound weight capacity (double the weight of the piece to determine hook capacity).