In the mid-1950s, inspired by Renaissance gold and silver dishes from France, Augsburg, and Venice, Picasso began to explore the medium of silver. He soon became reacquainted with the silversmith François Hugo, an old friend from the Parisian avant-garde scene whom he had known since 1917 – and, coincidentally, a great-grandson of the writer Victor Hugo.

Most people are familiar with Picasso’s paintings, his collage work, his sculptures in a wide variety of materials, and his decorative, widely celebrated ceramics. Less well known – likely because the artist kept them strictly to himself for many years – is the series of silver sculptures that Picasso created.

The present work, the fourth and most idiosyncratic of Picasso’s series of four compotiers, is the so-called Compotier trèfle. This example is the first of the five that were made after 1977, when Picasso’s youngest son, Claude, gave permission for the release of a new limited edition of compotiers in an edition of five.

The striking, clover-leaf-like face of the Compotier trèfle is characteristic of Picasso’s late portraits, in which a similarly radiating facial structure appears repeatedly. As the artist grew older, he became increasingly fascinated by the different stages of life, personality types and social classes of humankind. This theme of the comédie humaine is beautifully expressed in Picasso’s silver oeuvre. His silver plates and compotiers each depict faces with their own distinctive characteristics. Taken together, they form a colourful panorama of different human types within society. The Compotier trèfle, by recalling the features of Picasso’s late self-portraits, appears to engage with the theme of ageing.

Once the silver has been polished to a high sheen, the viewer sees their own reflection, raising the question of how one relates to the character created by Picasso on one’s own place within the comédie humaine. In this way the present Compotier trèfle is exemplary of Picasso’s late work, in which his drive for innovation remained fully intact. This is evident not only in his exploration of a new medium and new techniques, but also in his streching of the boundaries between applied and autonomous art and between two- and three-dimensionality. At the same time, the work connects closely with Picasso’s late thematic preoccupations with psychological character and the course of human life.

This example is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity, issued and signed by François Hugo.