A selection of Picasso Ceramics will be offered at Christie’s first-ever online-only auction from 15-29 October 2013.
This sale features a strong selection of unique pieces and some of the artist’s most beautiful works in editions, representing a particular moment in Picasso’s oeuvre. A highlight of the sale is a complete set of 13 plates from the “Service Visage Noir,” circa 1948, a rare and early set of Picasso plates estimated at £40,000 to £70,000 ($65,000 to $114,000). Another set was given to Rita Hayworth and Prince Aly Khan as a wedding gift in 1949 by the town of Vallauris, where Picasso produced many of his ceramics. “There were only 100 editions ever produced and very few sets remain intact having been split and sold separately during the 80s and 90s,” said Christie’s specialist Michelle McMullan.
This online auction offers 90 lots of these highly sought-after ceramics and related linocut posters, with estimates ranging from £500-700 ($800-1,150) for the catalogue raisonné of these editions to £40,000-70,000 ($65,000-114,000) for one of the earliest editions – a rare set of 13 plates from the “Service Visage Noir,” conceived in 1948.
