Many of Pablo Picasso's ceramics have faces, the curvature of the objects oftentimes further accentuating the humorous anthropomorphism. Over time, collectors have come to covet the "Visage" (or "Face") theme, which Picasso returned to again and again in his work with Madoura, the pottery gallery in the south of France with which Picasso produced hundreds of objects over the course of his career. In the present work, Joueur de diaule, Picasso's visage plays a simple Greek aulos, a "double-flute," often seen played by the satyrs and Pan-like creatures of ancient myth. This playful creature, despite his impish name, "devil player," recalls the fun-loving creatures from Picasso's many Bacchanal scenes reoccurring in both his prints and paintings. Joueur de diaule was conceived in 1947 and executed in a numbered edition of 200 in 1974.

Born in 1881 in Málaga in Spain, Picasso’s talent was recognized by his father at an early age. Picasso went on to attend the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid, and lived for a time in Barcelona before settling in Paris in 1904. Immersed in the avant-garde circles of Gertrude Stein, he rapidly transitioned from Neo-Impressionism through the Blue Period and Rose Period, before reaching a culmination in his Cubist masterpiece Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. Not limited to painting, the artist also expressed himself through collage, sculpture, and ceramics. The artist was prolific up until his death in 1973 in Mougins in France. Today, his works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, as well as institutions devoted solely to his life work, such as the Museo Picasso Málaga, the Museu Picasso in Barcelona, and the Musée National Picasso in Paris.

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