Pablo Picasso, Speckled Black Face, 1948 A.R. 49, is a beautiful and early example from Picasso’s groundbreaking ceramic collaboration with the renowned Madoura Pottery in Vallauris, where the artist began experimenting with clay in 1947 and soon transformed the medium into a major chapter of his artistic legacy. In this elegant composition, Picasso renders a stylized face using fluid black line work set against a richly textured cobalt-blue ground, framed by a rhythmic border of deep blue circular motifs. The simplicity of the drawing—reduced to expressive lines that simultaneously suggest profile and frontal view—demonstrates Picasso’s extraordinary ability to convey personality and emotion with remarkable economy. The painterly washes and speckled glaze create depth and movement across the surface, turning the ceramic platter into a vibrant canvas where drawing, painting, and sculpture converge.

Created in 1948, this white earthenware clay rectangular dish with decoration in engobes (white, blue, black, turquoise), under glaze is numbered from the edition of 200. It is stamped with the 'MADOURA PLEIN FEU' and 'EDITION PICASSO' pottery stamps on the reverse.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
This work is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnés and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices accompanying the final sale of the work):

1.  Ramié, Alain. Picasso Catalogue of the edited ceramic works 1947-1971. Madoura: 1988. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonne no. 49.
2. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this work.