A clutch of one-off and hitherto unseen ceramic plates and dishes by Pablo Picasso are going under the hammer in Geneva on June 19.

Emblematic motifs from Picasso's artistic universe – pigeons, fish, a goat, a bull and a bird adorn the colourful plates and dishes.

"It's a truly exceptional collection," said Bernard Piguet, director of the Piguet auction house in Geneva.

"The plates and dishes we have here are real Picasso works.

"These unique pieces belonged to Picasso's estate, and in the early 1980s, his heirs gave them to one of their friends."

The close friend, a French art lover whose name has not been revealed, kept them until his death.

His heirs have decided to put the ceramics up for sale.

Made between 1947 and 1963 in the Madoura workshop in Vallauris on the southeast French coast, the ceramic artworks are being exhibited to the general public for the first time ahead of Thursday's auction.

The seven pieces are being sold in separate lots.

Two large platters decorated with pigeons are both expected to fetch between 30,000 and 50,000 Swiss francs.

A third plate depicting three blue, pink, and brick-coloured fish on a white background, resembling a child's drawing, is estimated at 20,000 to 30,000 francs.

A thin brick, titled "Head of a Bearded Man", and painted with ceramic pastels in yellow, white, garnet, brown, blue orange and green, has the same estimate.

Glazed on a painted background in shades of grey, brown, and black, a terracotta plate depicting a goat's head bears the prestigious stamp "Original Picasso print" on the back. It is valued at 20,000-30,000 francs.

The two others feature a bull on a hexagonal terracotta tile and a stylised bird on a plate painted in black and white were valued at at least 15,000 francs each.

"It's a lot," Piguet said of the price. "But don't forget that these are works of art in their own right and unique pieces" without replicas.

"If you step back from Picasso's work and his drawings, which are becoming practically unaffordable today, you have here original works by Picasso that command a reasonable estimate."

Picasso created thousands of plates, platters, vases, pitchers and other earthenware utensils in the Madoura ceramics studio, run by the pottery couple Georges and Suzanne Ramie.

After World War II, "Picasso was already an internationally-renowned artist", said Adeline Bisch Balerna, head of paintings and sculptures at Piguet.

"He had already opened up a huge number of avenues for all artists; the great, well-known works had been created, and he was seeking new means of expression for his art."

Picasso would visit the Madoura studio, meet Georges Ranie, and be "captivated by all the possibilities offered" by this new artistic outlet, she explained.

Piguet is also auctioning two Picasso works "never before seen on the art market", from the same family friend's collection: "Serenade" (1919), an Indian ink and watercolour painting estimated at 20,000-30,000 francs, and the pencil drawing "Famille balzacienne" (1962), valued at 80,000-120,000 francs. (AFP)