Sotheby's London is offering "Important Ceramics by Pablo Picasso" on May 7, featuring 170 lots of Picasso ceramics ranging in estimates from under $1,000 to just over $100,000. The sale includes characterful plates, vases, jugs, bowls and tiles designed by Picasso, depicting a range of classical and mythical forms alongside portraits of animals and people, as well as linocuts from this period.

Picasso constantly explored opportunities to break creative boundaries and challenge himself in innovative ways. A chance encounter with the owners of the renowned Madoura pottery in Vallauris in the south of France in 1946, when the artist was 64 years of age, was the starting point for his exploration of a whole new creative medium. Picasso remained enchanted by the freedom and expressive nature of ceramics throughout the last 25 years of his life. Working with the Ramie family during these years, Picasso found great satisfaction in working with clay. His freedom of thought and creative powers are clearly evident in these works, and the sense of playfulness for which he was so renowned.

The years Picasso spent in the region are understood to have been among the happiest of his life. At Madoura, he met his future wife and famed muse Jacqueline Roque, who was to remain his partner for over 20 years until his death in 1973. During his first year at the pottery, Picasso and his lover Francoise Gilot welcomed a son, Claude, who shared his name with the Patron Saint of Potters.

Since the Royal Academy's flagship exhibition of Picasso's ceramics in 1998 there has been a renewed appreciation for the artist's experimentations with this art form. An exhibition currently on view in Sevres until 19 May - Picasso, Ceramicist, and the Mediterranean - is the biggest ever dedicated to Picasso's ceramics.