Glass and Die

1914
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
While Picasso never sculpted in the esteemed material of marble, he copied its veining in paintings, papiers collés, and this deliberately rough-hewn construction. The carved and marbleized piece of wood fixed to the backboard may represent a curtain or a screen. In any case, it complements the flat, marbleized shadow apparently cast by the white fluted wineglass. Decorative pattern thus supersedes realism in this exercise in trompe l’esprit (fool the mind). A jutting nail—a motif represented in countless trompe l’oeil paintings—is the sole surviving sign of a fringe cut from newspaper that originally adorned the edge of the circular table and concealed the construction’s unpainted base.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Glass and Die
  • Artist: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
  • Date: 1914
  • Medium: Painted wood
  • Dimensions: 9 1/4 × 8 5/8 × 1 7/8 in. (23.5 × 21.9 × 4.8 cm)
  • Classification: Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Private collection
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art