Around 1955 Picasso is excited and amused in creating ceramics. Silver artefacts can be worked in repoussé like a terra cotta. Picasso selects some themes among his plates and accepts that the goldsmith François Hugo executes them in silver.
The interest of Pablo for his silver remains private. He shows his silverware sparingly to very few friends. It was not until 1967 that Hugo, by permission of the artist, performs an edition of the whole set. For each model this issue is for 20 copies numbered 1 to 20 plus 2 "exemplaires d'artiste" (artist's proof) and 2 "exemplaires d'auteur" (author's proof).
Curiously this achievement remains unknown to the public until an exhibition of 19 pieces in London and Paris in 1977.
The 20 commercial sets were probably dispersed from their first sales. 19 pieces of the exemplaire d'artiste 2/2 remained in one lot sold for $ 3.5 million including premium by Christie's on May 6, 2014 from a lower estimate of $ 1M.
A collector has managed to gather a copy of each of the 24 listed plates. In this reconstructed set, the Visage de faune comes from an additional issue of 6 non commercial copies and the Visage géométrique aux traits, unnumbered, is a pattern copy identified on the reverse as "avant la lettre".
This interesting collection is estimated HK $ 12M for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on June 23, lot 539. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
SOLD for HK$ 20M including premium
The interest of Pablo for his silver remains private. He shows his silverware sparingly to very few friends. It was not until 1967 that Hugo, by permission of the artist, performs an edition of the whole set. For each model this issue is for 20 copies numbered 1 to 20 plus 2 "exemplaires d'artiste" (artist's proof) and 2 "exemplaires d'auteur" (author's proof).
Curiously this achievement remains unknown to the public until an exhibition of 19 pieces in London and Paris in 1977.
The 20 commercial sets were probably dispersed from their first sales. 19 pieces of the exemplaire d'artiste 2/2 remained in one lot sold for $ 3.5 million including premium by Christie's on May 6, 2014 from a lower estimate of $ 1M.
A collector has managed to gather a copy of each of the 24 listed plates. In this reconstructed set, the Visage de faune comes from an additional issue of 6 non commercial copies and the Visage géométrique aux traits, unnumbered, is a pattern copy identified on the reverse as "avant la lettre".
This interesting collection is estimated HK $ 12M for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on June 23, lot 539. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
SOLD for HK$ 20M including premium
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