A criminal investigation in southern France is putting a celebrated goldsmith's workshop under scrutiny, after the Picasso family estate complained that moulds of the artist's work were reused to make unauthorised silver and gold pieces worth millions of euros. The court of Aix-en-Provence has opened an inquiry following the complaint, which was filed on 10 March by Paloma Ruiz-Picasso on behalf of the artist's nine heirs and alleges fraud, counterfeiting, forgery and concealment.

At the centre of the case are silver plates and gold medallions attributed to Pablo Picasso and made under licence by Ateliers Hugo, a third-generation workshop in Aix-en-Provence founded in 1933 by François Hugo, the great-grandson of Victor Hugo. Picasso had been making ceramics in Vallauris from 1947 to 1955 and commissioned François to reproduce similar designs as plates and dishes in fine metal, using the traditional repoussé technique of hammering. The workshop later reduced some of the works to medallions and earrings.

The Picasso Administration says it has identified at least 17 suspicious collections, complete or nearly so, totalling hundreds of pieces. The first alarm came in May 2023, when doubts were raised about plates bought at Sotheby's in London: a catalogue for 13 October 2021 described a complete set of 24 signed silver plates, plus an unnumbered proof, which sold for £1.4 million. In June 2023, Bonhams France delayed a 95-lot sale from Ateliers Hugo just two days before it was due to take place, after the Administration said it considered the Picasso pieces unauthorised.

Nicolas Hugo, who took over the workshop after his father Pierre fell seriously ill in 2018 and died in October 2023, says he has not been interviewed and does not know the content of the complaint. He argues that any criminal case could only concern the time of his father and grandfather, and that the reproduction rights died with them, so he never minted any Picasso creation. The inquiry is still at a preliminary stage, and no suspects have been named.