Collection Online
Medium
earthenware
Measurements
5.6 × 30.4 cm diameter
Place/s of Execution
Vallauris, Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
Edition
ed. 176/250
Inscription
incised in base u.l.: I-117 / 176/250
impressed (vertically) in base u.r.: MADOURA / (fire) / PLEIN / FEU
impressed in base l.r.: EMPREINTE / ORIGINALE DE / PICASSO
Accession Number
2021.32
Department
International Decorative Arts
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased with funds donated by John and Cecily Adams, 2021
© Sucession Picasso/Copyright Agency
Gallery location
Late 19th & early 20th Century Paintings & Decorative Arts Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work

This shallow dish is decorated with a somewhat unnerving image of two hands firmly clasping a fish, viewed from above. The unglazed terracotta hands are modelled in raised relief and placed in opposite directions to each other; intriguingly, the lower hand is considerably larger than the upper hand. It is a strange, rather provocative choice of subject that Picasso only explored once, although he produced three different decorative interpretations of it.