LONDON.- Picasso’s dream that anyone could own one of his works was further cemented at Sotheby’s London yesterday at the sale of Important Ceramics by Pablo Picasso (18 March). The auction almost tripled its pre-sale low estimate to bring £1,726,625 ($2,548,153), with a 95% sell-through rate by lot and 68% of the works sold achieving prices above their high estimates. Seven of the top ten prices established records for the subjects. The top lot, Tripode, soared above its estimate to bring £233,000 (est. £55,000-65,000), while many pieces reached amounts well above pre-sale expectations, including Chouette visage de femme, which sold for £37,500, more than 12 times its estimate.

Séverine Nackers, Head of Prints, Sotheby's Europe, commented: "Picasso’s ceramics offer new and experienced collectors the opportunity to own an original work by the artist. Buyers are drawn to these pieces because ultimately each ceramic is so distinctly recognisable as 'a Picasso'. The vases, pitchers, plates, bowls and more, showcase Picasso’s playful side and are imbued with a sense of joie de vivre. His originality, his limitless innovation and creative scope, make his ceramics a delight to own, and our sale, in which every kind of ceramic he produced was represented, made possible the twentieth-century master’s wish to make his art widely accessible.”

The preceding day, the auction of Prints & Multiples (17 March) realised £3,811,563 ($5,649,499), surpassing its £2.95 million pre-sale low estimate. A roll call of stellar artists took the stage, led by Rembrandt alongside key artists of the twentieth century, including Picasso, Munch, Chagall and Warhol, the most important printmakers in the graphic medium’s history. Rembrandt’s The Three Crosses, considered one of the masterpieces of printmaking, commanded the highest price when it sold for £221,000.

FACTS & FIGURES
The combined total for the two sales was £5,538,188 ($8,197,652).

Prints & Multiples, 17 March 2015:

• Pre-sale estimate: £2.95-4.3 million

• Participants from 30 countries, including Russia, Brazil and South Korea

• 30% of the buyers were first-time collectors of prints at Sotheby’s

• 21% of the buyers were first-time purchasers at Sotheby’s

Important Ceramics by Pablo Picasso, 18 March 2015:

• Pre-sale estimate: £663,300-930,900

• Participants from 17 countries, from all four corners of the globe, including China, India, Brazil, Slovenia and New Zealand

• 62% of the buyers were first-time collectors of Picasso ceramics at Sotheby’s

• 29% of the buyers were first-time purchasers at Sotheby’s