Picasso painted this work in Céret, a small town in the foothills of the French Pyrenees, where he worked alongside Georges Braque (1882-1963). Their joint development of the painterly style called Cubism has become the stuff of legend.
Made during the most abstract phase of Cubism, known as "high" or Analytic Cubism (1910-12), this work-which depicts a round tabletop with a stemmed glass at left, the bottle of rum at center, and a pipe in the right foreground-is among the first of Picasso's pictures to include letters. These may refer to the town, Céret, or, alternatively, to the title of a poster or newspaper.

Signature: Signed and inscribed on verso in dark gray paint, upper center: ¦Picasso¦ / ceret

[Galerie Kahnweiler, Paris, 1911–14; acquired from the artist, stock no. 1791; sequestered Kahnweiler stock, Paris, 1914–21; sale, "Vente de biens allemands ayant fait l'objet d'une mesure de Séquestre de Guerre: Collection Henry Kahnweiler [sic], Tableaux Modernes, deuxième vente," Hôtel Drouot, Paris, November 17–18, 1921, no. 189, for 370 francs, to Ozenfant]; Amédée Ozenfant, Paris (1921); Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret), Paris (ca. 1921–63); Fondation Le Corbusier, Paris (1963–69; sale, "Ancienne Collection Le Corbusier," Palais Galliera, Paris, December 9, 1969, no. A, for 1,130,000 francs, to Hahn and Thaw); [Stephen Hahn and E. V. Thaw & Co., Inc., New York, 1969–70; sold by Thaw on September 23, 1970, in exchange for a painting by Picasso (Z 11a.249) and $250,000, to Gelman]; Jacques and Natasha Gelman, Mexico City and New York (1970–his d. 1986); Natasha Gelman, Mexico City and New York (1986–d. 1998; her bequest to MMA, 1998)

¦Ausstellung Pablo Picasso¦, Modern Galerie Thannhauser, Munich, February 1913, no. 61.

¦Pablo Picasso¦, Galerie Miethke, Vienna, February–March 1914, no. 21.

¦Chirico—Picasso¦, Zwemmer Gallery, London, June 1–31, 1937, no. 24.

¦Homage to Picasso¦, Marlborough Gallery, New York, October 1–31, 1971, no. 13.

¦Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective¦, Museum of Modern Art, New York, May 22–September 6, 1980, ill.

¦The Essential Cubism: Braque, Picasso & Their Friends 1907–1920¦, Tate Gallery, London, April 27–July 10, 1983, ill., no. 125.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, December 12, 1989–April 1, 1990; Royal Academy, London, England, April 19–July 15, 1990 ill. p. 114, discussed pp. 113-115. (ill. in color)

¦Gelman Collection Mexican Paintings¦, Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico, June 23–October 11, 1992.

Sabine Rewald, auteur du catalogue, William S. Lieberman, rédaction du catalogue, textes de Dawn Ades, John Ashbery, Jacques Dupin, John Golding, Lawrence Gowing, William S. Lieberman, Philippe de Montebello, Pierre Schneider et Gary Tinterow, ¦de Matisse à Picasso: Collection Jacques et Natasha Gelman¦, Foundation Pierre Gianadda, Martigny, Suisse, 18 juin–1 novembre 1994, ill. p. 139.

Bernice B. Rose, editor, ¦Picasso Braque and Early Film in Cubism¦, PaceWildenstein, New York, April 20–June 23, 2007, ill. p. 84, checklist p. 186.

Fort Worth. Kimbell Art Museum. ¦Picasso and Braque: The Cubist Experiment 1910 1912¦, May 29–August 21, 2011, no. 30.