‘Joueur de flûte, danseur et buveur’ is a wonderful double sided ceramic from March 1957. Picasso produced a series of six ceramic plates (reimagined as canvases) with one face inspired by mythology and the verso a grid of portraits. Five of the six, including the present, were created in a flurry of activity over three days at the Madoura pottery in Vallaurius, South of France, which he had first come across while visiting the village a year prior. He worked closely with owners of the pottery, Suzanne and Georges Ramié, themselves artists.

On the side dated 7 March 1957 is a scene reminiscent of the bacchanal. Picasso uses the classical blue and white colour palette of classical Dutch Delftware to depict the jubilant flautist, dancer and drinker. The figures, drawn with simple clean lines, exude energy, with the sweeping smudge marks creating a vibration of movement and dynamism across the scene.

On the other side of ‘Joueur de flûte, danseur et buveur’, which Picasso signed, is a grid of nine playful caricatures. Picasso places each face within its own frame, asserting that it is a miniature in its own right, and experiments with line to individualise each frame.. Picasso regularly created light-hearted sketches, drawing figures or characters from his imagination that amused him.

Picasso mischievously presents this entire work as a tromphe l’oeil – a ceramic that is a canvas. He has placed black circles around the edge of the ceramic, to mimic the nails that hold the canvas onto the stretcher.