ART lovers should be bowled over by the latest addition to the collection at York Art Gallery - a genuine Picasso.

Gallery chiefs hope their latest acquisition, a Picasso bowl depicting a bullfight, will help swell the number of visitors to the gallery in York's Exhibition Square.

The gallery reopened in March last year after a nine-month, £445,000 refurbishment.

Since then, more than 116,000 visitors have passed through its doors.

Pablo Picasso's earthenware bowl, entitled Scne de Tauromachie (or scene of a bullfight), was purchased with the help of the Friends of York Art Gallery when it went under the hammer at Sotheby's in London.

Gallery bosses are keeping the cost of the new acquisition secret, for security reasons.

Made in 1954, the bowl will now take pride of place in the gallery's ceramics collection.

Caroline Worthingon, curator of art for the York Museums Trust which runs the gallery, said: "To get a piece of work by a really famous name like Picasso is fantastic. We were surprised to find out we could get a piece of pottery by such a famous artist. It is wonderful for the gallery and for York."

It will first go on show on Saturday, January 28, alongside the opening of the gallery's new exhibition, Spanish Masters.

Picassco was born in 1881 in Malaga, Spain, and went on to become one of the most recognised figures in 20th century art.

Although most famous for his paintings and sculpture, he began experimenting with ceramics as early as 1906. This particular bowl was made while Picasso was in the south of France.

Updated: 10:27 Friday, January 13, 2006