Pieter Claesz.

Acquired by the father of the present owner, probably in Paris, during the last century.

The canvas has an old relining which is still sound. The painting is now a little dirty and its varnish layer dulled. The paint surface is beautifully preserved throughout with no major damages or repairs and all the original impasto preserved. Inspection under ultra violet reveals only scattered retouchings in the background, for example to a small loss just above the blue and white dish and some small losses in the upper margin above, and some strengthening to outlines and shadows of the roemer and the basket handle. More old retouchings are to be found along the bottom of the picture, mostly in the white cloths to the left, which appear to have been scumbled over in parts in the past. The restoration has slightly discoloured and is visible to the naked eye, but not obtrusive. This lot is offered in a later gilt plaster frame with bead, ribbon twist and laurel leaf mouldings, in very good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Hitherto unrecorded and unpublished, this is a relatively late work by Pieter Claesz., and perfectly exhibits what Ingvar Bergström described as 'the mellow treatment of colour and freedom of brushwork' characteristic of the last decade of his career.¹ In the early 1650s Claesz. seems to have experimented with a variety of similar compositional arrangements using many of the same objects that are found here. Several, like the present work, are anchored on the left by an arrangement of fruit in a basket; these include two panels from the same year in the Kunsthalle in Hamburg and a private collection. The motif of the ham is also frequently encountered; a good example from 1651 is in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin.²  Many of these works were painted on canvas, and were usually of larger and more varied dimensions than the corresponding works on panel, perhaps suggesting that they were painted in response to specific commissions.  The individual motifs of the dish of oil atop the silver salt cellar, the roemer and the dish of oysters can all be found in a canvas of 1652, last recorded with J. van Rijn in Maastricht.³  The overturned silver beaker and the pocket watch are rather rarer, but the former may be found again in a smaller canvas of 1653 today in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg.⁴

We are grateful to both Dr. Martine Brunner-Bulst and Fred G. Meijer of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie for independently endorsing the attribution to Pieter Claesz on the basis of photographs.


1. I. Bergström, Dutch Still-life painting in the Seventeenth century, New York 1956, p. 116.
2. Reproduced in M. Brunner-Bulst, Pieter Claesz., Lingen 2004, p. 318, no. 194.
3. Brunner-Bulst, op. cit., 2004, p. 322, no. 199.
4. Ibid., p. 324, no. 202, reproduced.