Abraham Mignon

With Kurt J.  Müllenmeister, Solingen, 1977;
Thence by descent in the family to the current owner.

M. Kraemer-Noble, Abraham Mignon, Petersburg 2007, p. 58, no. 7, reproduced opposite.

The following condition report is provided by Rebecca Gregg who is an external expert and not an employee of Sotheby's. The single member oak panel is in very good condition with no planar distortions. The paint layers appear in very good condition, there are minor scuffs and tiny losses to the edges as a result of movement in the frame, along the lower, left and right edges. None of the losses described are significant and the adhesion between the paint and ground layers and the support appears good. There are minor retouchings scattered throughout, the majority of these do no appear to have been the result of any specific damage and could possibly conceal minor abrasion or thinness of the paint layers. There are also lines of retouching strengthening elements of the composition. There is a larger area of over-paint in the lower left corner. The signature appears sound; it is beneath the thickly applied varnish layer. There is a discoloured varnish layer present that fluoresces strongly under ultra violet examination. There is a light layer of surface dirt and dust present and a scattering of fly spots. The painting was examined in the frame.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Mignon painted a number of similarly small-scale festoons of wild fruit and flowers throughout the 1670s, and Magdalena Kraemer-Noble has suggested such a dating for the present work. Certainly the crispness of its execution and the resultant precise depiction of each object accords well with other works from this time. For these small-scale swags and festoons Mignon clearly favoured certain floral arrangments with the majority, as here, governed by a central grouping of a pink rose and an open poppy either side of a snowball.¹ Not the least notable element of the present work is the artist's interest in, and minutely observed depiction of, the fraises de bois and gooseberries and the array of extraordinary insects that they and the flowers attract.

1. See for example the painting sold London, Sotheby's, 4 July 1990, lot 139.