Picasso ceramic edition at auction

The two-day auction of Picasso Ceramics: The Madoura Collection on 25 and 26 June 2012 was 100% sold, realising £8,082,300 / $12,584,141 / €10,046,298 – more than four times pre-sale expectations (estimate: £1,789,800 - £2,689,750). The auction offered 543 lots, including many ceramics which had remained untouched since they were created, as well as prints, posters, photography and furniture from the Pottery, presenting the last ever opportunity for collectors to purchase these works by Picasso directly from where they were made, at the Madoura Pottery in Vallauris, France. Nearly 500 clients registered to bid in the sale which lasted more than 13 hours in total, and buyers were from 43 different countries. The top lot of the sale was Grand vase aux femmes voilées by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). Conceived in 1950 and executed in an edition of 25 the work sold for more than ten-times the pre-sale estimate, realizing £735,650 / $1,145,407 / €914,413. This is a new world record price for a Picasso ceramic edition at auction. The previous world record price for a Picasso ceramic edition at auction was €312,750 / $414,073 achieved for an edition of Grand vase aux danseurs sold at an auction in December 2010. Four lots in the sale ofPicasso Ceramics: The Madoura Collection exceeded this previous record.