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Jacqueline plate: C.5-1960

Object information

Current Location: Gallery 27 (Glaisher)

Titles

Jacqueline plate

Maker(s)

Designer: Picasso, Pablo
Pottery: Madoura Pottery

Entities

Categories

Description

White earthenware plate, moulded with a portrait of Jacqueline, and biscuit fired

Large, creamy-white plate with raised design of a woman's head in profile, facing right. The plate is a slightly irregular square-circular shape, with shallow sides curving upwards; it stands on a thin, 23cm, circular foot-ring. The design is linear and stylised, the woman’s eyes, eyebrows and neck are enlarged and her hair is held back in a scarf. The date 22.1.55 is inscribed, reversed and in relief, near the rim to the left of her neck. The plate is neither painted nor glazed.

Notes

History note: Grosvenor Gallery, London

Legal notes

Purchased with the Varty-Smith Fund

Measurements and weight

Diameter: 41.5 cm
Height: 4 cm

Place(s) associated

  • Vallauris

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bought (1960-10-13) by Grosvenor Galleries

Dating

20th Century, Mid
Production date: dated AD 1956

Note

Between 1946 and 1969, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) made more than 3,500 pottery designs with the Madoura Pottery, at Vallauris, near Cannes. Until 1955 he worked at the pottery, supervising the throwing and moulding of shapes to his design and decorating them by hand. Later, biscuit fired works were delivered to him for decoration, and sent back to Vallauris for firing. The owners, Georges and Suzanne Ramié, expanded the pottery and gradually turned it over to Picasso’s work. Many of the designs were produced in moderately priced limited editions, sometimes with a run of several 100s, with the aim that ‘everyone might own a Picasso’.

Jacqueline Roque (1927- 86), a cousin of the Ramiés, met Picasso in 1953. They married in 1961 and were together until he died. Her image appears frequently in Picasso's later paintings, characterized by exaggerated features, high cheekbones and classical profile. She was the subject of his first significant lino cut, ‘Jacqueline with a scarf’ produced on 28 December 1955 (MOMA 178.2003), a depiction which draws on Edouard Manet’s ‘Lola de Valence’, 1862 (Musée d’Orsay). That same image has been very slightly adapted for this plate, produced just a month later in an edition of 100. The mark ‘Empreinte Originale’ indicates that the plate has been ‘printed’ from an original plaster mould carved and shaped by Picasso. He likened his ceramic work to both painting and printing, with the added uncertainty of what the kiln would do, and used the same carving tools for lino, leather, plaster and clay. Here he also plays with notions of functionality and art, by giving the plate a slightly irregular form and raised design.

School or Style

Cubism

People, subjects and objects depicted

Materials used in production

White earthenware

Techniques used in production

Moulded : White earthenware, moulded

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: EMPREINTE/ORIGINALE DE/PICASSO
  • Location: Centre of back
  • Method of creation: Impressed stamp
  • Type: Mark

Inscription present: semi-circular 'MADOURA' containing a flame, with 'PLEIN / FEU' in small rectangle below.

  • Text: MADOURA/PLEIN / FEU
  • Location: Centre of back
  • Method of creation: Impressed stamp
  • Type: Factory mark
  • Text: A 100
  • Location: Centre of back
  • Method of creation: Incised
  • Type: Mark

Inscription present: in reverse

  • Text: 22 / 1 / 56
  • Location: Face, bottom left
  • Method of creation: Moulded
  • Type: Date mark

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.5-1960
Primary reference Number: 75386
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Wednesday 15 July 2020 Last processed: Friday 16 February 2024

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Jacqueline plate" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/75386 Accessed: 2024-11-21 19:04:33

Citation for Wikipedia

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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/75386 |title=Jacqueline plate |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-21 19:04:33|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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