Not just another Horse's Head, but one I've seen before.

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When I first glimpsed the plate, the first thing that struck me was the backward looking horse's head with the distinctive eye. I'd seen it before and I knew it was by Picasso. Since then I've scoured my library of Picasso books and have been unable to find it again. Presently I'm re-examining these books in minute detail in the hope of relocating the image.

The backwards, or over-the-shoulder stance, is a feature seen in many works by Picasso. Perhaps the best known examples are "Guernica", in which both the horse and bull adopt this posture, and Les Demoiselles d'Avigon, in which one wamen's head is twisted completely around to look backwards between her shoulder blades.

I'll keep looking because I know I've seen the horse's head somewhere before.
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The Shaman's Magic

The facial features are modelled in a typical Picasso style. Transparent background tones establish the illusion of depth. Spare over-painting defines the features and expression. The final result is a masterly example of the artists genius. There's little more to say.

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Double left click on the above image to closely review the features. Examine the eyes to appreciate the simple mastery of the medium. In particular, the knight's left eye is very effectively modelled with three green straight lines set at an angle over a misty blue base.

Pure magic.

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Close examination of the area just to the left of the knight's eye will reveal a series of curved parallel marks. The question is, are these brush marks from applying the oxide or a finger print of the artist who painted the face?
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Plate with Tournament Scene, Knight Armour and Page.

Picasso Museum, Paris (cat. 1, 478)

Picasso produced this plate in January 1951. The work, like so many produced in all mediums throughout his lifetime, was an experiment. Picasso is reported to have stated; 'The only colour is black'. The works is rendered in black and white, and was product using a scraping technique similar to that applied in lithography. The black glaze is scraped away letting the white earthenware show through. The method produces certain effects, such as the half-tones seen in the armour and in the modelling of the Page's face.

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'Tournament, Knight & Page' may be the most detailed of all ceramics produced by Picasso. For example, examine the single strands of hair on the Page's head or the horse's tail, consider that rivets in the armour are depicted individually and be amazed that each whisker on the horse's chin has been etched-in separately. 'Tournament, Knight & Page' clearly shows that Picasso produced some minutely detailed ceramics and not just the minimalistic works generally recongised. (Left chick on the above picture to enlarge).
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Picasso's Ceramics Minimalistic?

It is commonly believe that Picasso produced only 'spare' or 'minimalistic' images when engaged with ceramics, as with the example above. Whilst it must be acknowledged that many Picasso's ceramics verged on the minimalistic, as of course did a lot of his paintings and other works, it is also true that there is a great variety in the ceramic, and not all ceramic artworks were sparing in detail.
The ceramic piece which I am investigating is certainly an example of detailed artwork, work which I believe is entirely indicative of Picasso's style. My next posting will show a recognised one-off Picasso ceramic which also has a 'knightly' motif, and has extremely detail artwork.


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Why five fingures and no thumb?

On first seeing the plate its overall aspect screamed "Picasso" to me. On second glance two features confirmed my initial thoughts.

Firstly, the structural compostion of the artwork.

And secondly, specific detail of its execution.

Consider for instance the knight's left hand - show in detail above. It's a direct take from the clarinet player in Picasso's 1921 painting entitled "Three Musicians". Picasso frequently use this device in many cubist, surreal and portraiture works thoughout the 1920's and 1930's. The latest painting that I'm aware of, in which he used a similar representation of a hand, was in the work entitled "Bust of a Man" (12 February 1972).
Having successfully depicted hands in this way for at least fifty years, it would be little surprise if he utilised the motif during the many years he produced ceramics.

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Mystery of the Marks (Part 1):- " V I V Λ O I”

V I V Λ O I or VIVIIOI?

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I first thought the incised marks on the back of the "plate" read: 'VIV IIOI'.
I took these to be "Roman numerals" which could be read as either; 54, 2, 1 or 65, 2, 1.
Or translated into my understanding: 1st February 1954 or 1st February 1965.

Initially I believed one of these readings to be the date on which the plate was first glazed.

Picasso's marks - Roman Numerals?

When I bought the piece, which is not a plate but a shallow bowl, I thought the incised marks on the back were Roman numerals. However, Roman numerals do not have a 'O' and so they must signify something else.