This oval-shaped ceramic dish titled Still Life, 1953 is of white earthenware clay, with decoration in engobes, knife-engraved under glaze.  The ceramic is from an edition of 400 and is stamped both Madoura and "d'apres Picasso limited authentic replica" on the bottom.

It is illustrated in the Madoura catalog as item number 219.

This is a very difficult year for Picasso.  In early September Picasso meets Jacqueline and by mid-September, Françoise is angry enough at him that she takes their two children away and finally leaves.  Picasso buys her and the children an apartment in Paris.

Meanwhile, Picasso's son Paulo becomes his new driver, firing his prior driver who wrecked Picasso's Oldsmobile.

At the time he created this ceramic, Picasso became fixed on Jacqueline, the hostess at Madoura pottery and a divorcée with a four-year-old daughter, Catherine.

In America, Arthur Miller's The Crucible was published in this year.