Pablo Picasso, Ovale à l'Oeil A (A.R. 623), France, 1971, Ceramic

An editioned terracotta tile by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), produced at Madoura, Vallauris, France. The work is titled Ovale à l'Oeil A and is referenced as A.R. 623 in Alain Ramié's catalogue raisonné Picasso, Catalogue de l'œuvre céramique édité, 1947-1971 (Madoura, Vallauris, 1988), with the model number J.164 in Madoura's own production records. The tile is numbered 15/500 from the edition. The verso retains the impressed POINÇON ORIGINAL DE PICASSO stamp and the MADOURA cachet, together with the handwritten edition number and Madoura model reference.

The piece is presented in a later removable plexiglass protective frame, which can be removed without affecting the tile. The Madoura editions, produced in collaboration with Suzanne and Georges Ramié between 1947 and 1971, represent one of the most extensive bodies of editioned ceramic work by any twentieth-century artist. The Ovale à l'Oeil series reduces the eye motif - a recurring element in Picasso's late graphic and ceramic vocabulary - to a single incised oval form on a square ground. Dimensions: Tile 15 × 15 cm. Later plexiglass frame 20 × 20 cm. Materials: Terracotta with incised decoration; later plexiglass protective frame (removable). Condition: Very good - no chips, cracks, or restoration.