Willem Claesz. Heda

Bought by the grandfather of the present owners.

The actual painting is softer in tone than the catalogue illustration suggests. The panel consists of 2 planks, joined horizontally, and is lightly bevelled on all sides. There's a small paint loss in the upper left corner, and a small diagonal surface scratch to the lower centre. The panel is flat and stable, and the paint layer is in excellent condition. The paint surface is under a glossy and slightly dirty layer of varnish. Two small spots of retouching are visible in the background upper right. Minor strengthening can be observed in the nautilus cup, and in the oysters. Inspection under Ultra-Violet light is partially impeded by the dirty varnish layer, but does reveal some older tiny scattered retouchings in the oriental carpet, and strengthening in the glass work on the right, and reveals a few more recent retouchings in the lower right corner, along the right edge, and to the background right of the roemer. Offered in a plain fruit wood frame, in good condition. (MW)
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We are grateful to Fred G. Meijer of the R.K.D., The Hague, for confirming the attribution on the basis of a digital photograph. He considers this work to be datable to the early 1660s, for it shows a strong resemblance to a composition signed and dated 1662, sold, London, Christie's, 21 June 1986, lot 58. 

Heda is mostly known and appreciated for the simplicity and serenity, and the semi-monochromatic tonal style of his early characteristic 'Monohrome Banketjes' (see lot 39). But from the 1650s, he slowly shifted towards a more abundant style, with costly and precious objects, such as the beautiful Nautilus Cup in this painting. This cup first appears on a work dated 1649 in the Staatliches Museum, Schwerin (inv. no. 68)¹, but becomes a more prominent object in his compositions from the mid 1650s onwards. In the 17^th Century it was customary for artists to loan silverware and other costly objects from local silversmiths, but it is likely that the Nautilus Cup was owned by the master himself, for it not only appears in several other of his works, but also in a few paintings by his son and pupil Gerret Willemsz. Heda (circa 1622/26-1649), such as that sold, London, Sotheby's, 5 December 2007, lot 40.

The composition, in comparison with works datable to the 1630s and 1640s, is notably more ambitious: the ponderous Persian rug creates an unstable ground for the delicate porcelain bowl, of which the weight is shifted by a ripe and heavy orange. The rind of the lemon is hanging over the edge of the table, almost taking its weight down, and the silver plate with the oyster shells and the knife is balanced precariously on the edge of the table.

Although some might consider that paintings executed from the mid 1650s, do not show the true Heda at work², it is clear in the present work that his main focus remained on understanding and describing the textural differences between the various materials of all the objects he depicted, and their complex reflections. Here, against a neutral background of warm browns and greys, displayed under diffused lightning, Heda emphasises the smoothness of the Nautilus cup, the roughness of the oyster shells, the wooliness of the Persian rug, and the translucence of the different sorts of glassware.

1. See N.R.A. Vroom, A Modest Message as Intimated by the Painters of the 'Monochrome Banketje', New York/The Hague 1985, vol. II, p. 77, cat. no. 376.
2. Vroom, op. cit., 1985, vol. I, p. 77.