Pieter Claesz.

Collection Vicktor Decock;
His sale, Paris, Charpentier, 12 May 1948, lot 62 (as by W.C. Heda);
Private Collection;
With Galerie Hurtebize, Cannes, by 2002;
Private Collection, Belgium.

M. Brunner-Bulst, Pieter Claesz., der Hauptmeister des Haarlemer Stillebens im 17. Jahrhundert, Lingen 2004, p. 184, no. 185, reproduced p. 312.

The actual painting is less red and more subdued in tone than the catalogue illustration suggests. The painting is relined. The paint layer is secure. There's rather coarse craquelure pattern that varies in places. The varnish is dull and discoloured. No damages are visible to the naked eye. The craquelure structure to the background is filled in. A few scattered retouchings are visible, e.g. in the upper right in the background, in the lower right on the table cloth. Inspection under UV-light reveals additional retouchings throughout the painting, e.g. in the background, in the vines, in the beer glass, in pewter jugg, and in the ham, and also reveals a filled and retouched vertical tear of approx. 20 cm in the upper right, Offered in a modern, carved wood frame, in good condition. (JD)
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Formerly sold as a work by the Haarlem still life painter Willem Claesz. Heda, Fred G. Meijer and J. Nieuwstraten of the R.K.D., The Hague, were the first to recognise this work as an authentic work by Pieter Claesz. in 1984. As Dr. M. Brunner-Bulst suggests, Pieter Claesz. painted few works on canvas, usually large works, which may have been on commission. Stylistically it can be compared to works dated from the late 1640s, such as a work signed and dated 1650 at the Sarah Cambell Blaffer Foundation in Houston, Texas, and a work now in a private collection, sold, London, Christie's, 11 December 1987, lot 14.¹

As is beautifully shown, Claesz. reveals how well he could paint different textures: the different types of glass with their reflections and clarity, the roughness of the salt, dried fat on the meat, the bread roll and the different shiny textures of the iron compared with pewter and silver. This combination of attention to texture and confident brushwork is typical of his later, more painterly, style. The abundance of different foods and the valuable silver, pewter and Chinese wares, suggest that it was painted on commission, reflecting a rich patron's social status.

1. See under Literature, p. 308, no. 180, reproduced p. 102, and p. 312, no. 183, reproduced p. 310.