In 1956, Picasso began conceiving a series of painted hexagonal tiles known as tomettes. These ordinary earthenware floor tiles were painted with light slips and often gently incised into their relatively soft material surface. The present work is unique and an example of his inventive reinterpretation of the face that he continued to revisit time and time again across all mediums and materials. Inspired by the glazing process present throughout Western art history, these tomettes represented another means through which sculpture, and ceramics in particular, could allow the artist to engage with those archaic traditions he admired the most.